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The Limits of onetary Economics: On Money as a Latent Medium of Exchange

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  • Ricardo Lagos
  • Shengxing Zhang

Abstract

We formulate a generalization of the traditional medium-of-exchange function of money in contexts where there is imperfect competition in the intermediation of credit, settlement, or payment services used to conduct transactions. We find that the option to settle transactions with money strengthens the stance of sellers of goods and services vis-à-vis intermediaries, and show this mechanism is operative even for sellers who never exercise the option to sell for cash. These latent money demand considerations imply that in general, in contrast to current conventional wisdom in policy-oriented research in monetary economics, monetary policy remains effective through medium-of-exchange transmission channels—even in highly developed credit economies where the share of monetary transactions is negligible.

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  • Ricardo Lagos & Shengxing Zhang, 2020. "The Limits of onetary Economics: On Money as a Latent Medium of Exchange," NBER Working Papers 26756, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26756
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Dirk Niepelt, 2024. "Money and Banking with Reserves and CBDC," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(4), pages 2505-2552, August.
    4. Jonathan Chiu & Mohammad Davoodalhosseini, 2021. "Central Bank Digital Currency and Banking: Macroeconomic Benefits of a Cash-Like Design," Staff Working Papers 21-63, Bank of Canada.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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