IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/6972.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Inflation and indivisible investment in developing economies

Author

Listed:
  • Eden, Maya
  • Nguyen, Ha

Abstract

In countries with limited access to finance, firms accumulate retained earnings to finance indivisible investment projects. McKinnon (1973) illustrates that when cash is used as a primary store of value, inflation may discourage investment as it increases the cost of accumulating retained earnings. This paper formalizes this argument in a dynamic framework and provides a simple calibration of the model that suggests sizable effects of inflation on investment. The mechanism is particularly relevant for small firms, as firms with lower cash flows must accumulate retained earnings for longer periods of time to meet the price of indivisible investment goods. Consistent with the model, empirical evidence suggests that inflation disproportionately reduces investment in small firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Eden, Maya & Nguyen, Ha, 2014. "Inflation and indivisible investment in developing economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6972, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6972
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2014/07/22/000158349_20140722095847/Rendered/PDF/WPS6972.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    2. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    3. Gordon, Roger & Li, Wei, 2009. "Tax structures in developing countries: Many puzzles and a possible explanation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 855-866, August.
    4. Smith, R. Todd & van Egteren, Henry, 2005. "Inflation, investment and economic performance: The role of internal financing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1283-1303, July.
    5. Lucas, Robert E, Jr & Stokey, Nancy L, 1987. "Money and Interest in a Cash-in-Advance Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 491-513, May.
    6. Fischer, Stanley, 1979. "Anticipations and the Nonneutrality of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(2), pages 225-252, April.
    7. Cole, Harold L & Stockman, Alan C, 1992. "Specialization, Transactions Technologies, and Money Growth," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(2), pages 283-298, May.
    8. Miguel Sidrauski, 1967. "Inflation and Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(6), pages 796-796.
    9. Stockman, Alan C., 1981. "Anticipated inflation and the capital stock in a cash in-advance economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 387-393.
    10. Fama, Eugene F. & Gibbons, Michael R., 1982. "Inflation, real returns and capital investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 297-323.
    11. Holland, A Steven, 1993. "Inflation Regimes and the Sources of Inflation Uncertainty: Comment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(3), pages 514-520, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grier, Robin & Grier, Kevin B., 2006. "On the real effects of inflation and inflation uncertainty in Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 478-500, August.
    2. S. Boragan Aruoba & Christopher J. Waller & Randall Wright, 2009. "Money and capital: a quantitative analysis," Working Papers 2009-031, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    3. Piotr Ciżkowicz & Marcin Hołda & Andrzej Rzońca, 2009. "Inflation and investment in monetary growth models," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 40(6), pages 9-40.
    4. Wilbur John Coleman, 1988. "Money, interest, and capital in a cash-in-advance economy," International Finance Discussion Papers 323, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    5. Zaib Maroof & Shahzad Hussain & Muhammad Jawad & Munazza Naz, 2019. "Determinants of industrial development: a panel analysis of South Asian economies," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1391-1419, May.
    6. Been-Lon Chen & Mei Hsu & Chia-Hui Lu, 2007. "Status and Multiple Growth Regimes," IEAS Working Paper : academic research 07-A010, Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
    7. Max Gillman & Mark Harris & László Mátyás, 2002. "Inflation and Growth: Some Theory and Evidence," 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin, July 5-6, 2002 D5-1, International Conferences on Panel Data.
    8. English, William B., 1999. "Inflation and financial sector size," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 379-400, December.
    9. Mark N. Harris & Max Gillman & László Mátyás, 2001. "The Negative Inflation-Growth Effect: Theory and Evidence," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2001n12, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    10. Seher Gülşah Topuz, 2022. "The Relationship Between Income Inequality and Economic Growth: Are Transmission Channels Effective?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 1177-1231, August.
    11. Alexandre Janiak & Paulo Santos Monteiro, 2011. "Inflation and Welfare in Long‐Run Equilibrium with Firm Dynamics," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(5), pages 795-834, August.
    12. Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo & Martínez-Vázquez, Jorge & Vulovic, Violeta, 2013. "Taxation and Economic Growth in Latin America," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4583, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Massimiliano Affinito, 2011. "Convergence clubs, the euro-area rank and the relationship between banking and real convergence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 809, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    14. Ravindra H. Dholakia, 2020. "A Theory of Growth and Threshold Inflation with Estimates," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 18(3), pages 471-493, September.
    15. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    16. Ralph Chami & Thomas F. Cosimano & Connel Fullenkamp, 2001. "Capital Trading, Stock Trading, and the Inflation Tax on Equity," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 4(3), pages 575-606, July.
    17. Rodrigo Suescún M., 1995. "Growth, Welfare Costs and Aggregate Fluctuations in Economies with Monetary Taxation," Borradores de Economia 036, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    18. Arman Mansoorian & Leo Michelis, 2005. "Money, capital, and real liquidity effects with habit formation," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(2), pages 430-453, May.
    19. Thomas Philippon, 2015. "Has the US Finance Industry Become Less Efficient? On the Theory and Measurement of Financial Intermediation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1408-1438, April.
    20. Nora Abu Asab & Juan Carlos Cuestas & Alberto Montagnoli, 2018. "Inflation targeting or exchange rate targeting: Which framework supports the goal of price stability in emerging market economies?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-21, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment and Investment Climate; Debt Markets; Economic Theory&Research; Access to Finance; Non Bank Financial Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:6972. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.