Equilibrium using credit or money with indivisible goods

This note studies the trade of indivisible goods using credit or money in a frictional market. We show how indivisibility matters for monetary equilibrium under different assumptions about price determination. Bargaining generates a price and allocation that are independent of the nominal interest or inflation rate over some range. This is not the case with price posting and directed search. In either case, we provide conditions (the nominal rate cannot be too high) under which stationary monetary equilibrium exists, and we show it is unique or generically unique. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.School of Economics, Peking University; National Natural Science Foundation of China [71373011][email protected]

A Microfoundation of Monetary Economics

In this lecture, I explain what the microfoundations of money are about and why they are necessary for monetary economics. Then, I review recent developments of a particular microfoundation of money, commonly known as the search theory of money. Finally, I outline some unresolved issues.Money; Search; Microfoundation.

New Monetarist Economics: models

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the models used in New Monetarist Economics, which is our label for a body of recent work on money, banking, payments systems, asset markets, and related topics. A key principle in New Monetarism is that solid microfoundations are critical for understanding monetary issues. We survey recent papers on monetary theory, showing how they build on common foundations. We then lay out a tractable benchmark version of the model that allows us to address a variety of issues. We use it to analyze some classic economic topics, like the welfare effects of inflation, the relationship between money and capital accumulation, and the Phillips curve. We also extend the benchmark model in new ways, and show how it can be used to generate new insights in the study of payments, banking, and asset markets.Money ; Monetary policy

The economics of payments

In this paper we provide a survey of the payment literature in a unified framework. The environment is a variant of the Lagos and Wright (2005) model of monetary exchange, where some trades occur in bilateral meetings while others occur in more or less decentralized markets. We use this basic environment to introduce alternative sets of trading frictions that give rise to different payments instruments and/or payments institutions. We investigate credit economies, monetary economies, and economies in which money and credit coexist. We also study alternative assets, such as foreign exchange, capital (equity), and government liabilities, which can be used as payment instruments in conjunction with money. We introduce banks as deposit-taking institutions whose liabilities circulate in the economy. We also provide an extension in which the process of the settlement of debt for money is modeled and the potential social costs of settlement are characterized. Finally, we investigate government policy responses to the social costs introduced by various trading frictions.Payment systems ; Money

The search-theoretic approach to monetary economics: a primer

The authors present simple versions of models used in the search-theoretic approach to monetary economics. They discuss results on the existence of monetary equilibria, the potential for multiple equilibria, and welfare. Using bilateral bargaining theory, they consider models where prices are fixed as well as those where prices are determined endogenously. After describing the frictions necessary to construct a model where money has an essential role, they conclude by reviewing many extensions and applications in the related literatureMoney

The Economics of Roscas and Intra-Household Resource Allocation

This paper investigates individual motives to participate in rotating savings and credit associations (roscas). Detailed evidence of roscas in a Kenyan slum (Nairobi) shows that most roscas are predominantly composed of women. To explain this phenomenon, we propose an argument based on conflictual interactions within the household, where husbands and wives have differential savings patterns due to different valuations of an indivisible good. We test the empirical implications of the model using data collected from the Kenyan slum.

General equilibrium with nonconvexities, sunspots, and money

We study general equilibrium with nonconvexities. In these economies there exist sunspot equilibria without the usual assumptions needed in convex economies, and they have good welfare properties. Moreover, in these equilibria, agents act as if they have quasi-linear utility. Hence wealth effects vanish. We use this to construct a new model of monetary exchange. As in Lagos-Wright, trade occurs in both centralized and decentralized markets, but while that model requires quasilinearity, we have general preferences. Given our specification looks much like the textbook Arrow-Debreu model, we think this constitutes progress on the classic problem of integrating money and general equilibrium theory. We also use the model to discuss another classic issue: the relation between inflation and unemployment.Equilibrium (Economics) ; Money

General Equilibrium with Nonconvexities, Sunspots, and Money

We study general equilibrium with nonconvexities. In these economies there exist sunspot equilibria without the usual assumptions needed in convex economies, and they have good welfare properties. Moreover, in these equilibria, agents act as if they have quasi-linear utility. Hence wealth effects vanish. We use this to construct a new model of monetary exchange. As in Lagos-Wright, trade occurs in both centralized and decentralized markets, but while that model requires quasilinearity, we have general preferences. Given our specification looks much like the textbook Arrow-Debreu model, we think this constitutes progress on the classic problem of integrating money and general equilibrium theory. We also use the model to discuss another classic issue: the relation between inflation and unemployment.

Dual-currency economies as multiple-payment systems

Monetary search models are valuable for studying how a second currency's acceptability arises endogenously in an economy that lacks a stable domestic currency and other more sophisticated payment systems. Search models' basic assumptions (absence of credit, lack of smoothly functioning banking systems, reliance on currency as the sole medium of exchange, and primitive trading environments) are not necessarily consistent with modern financial systems. They do, however, provide good descriptions of transitional and developing economies, particularly in the countries of the former Soviet Union, and may yield helpful policy prescriptions.Money ; Monetary theory

General Equilibrium with NonConvexities, Sunspots and Money

We study general equilibrium with nonconvexities. In these economies there exist sunspot equilibria without the usual assumptions needed in convex economies, and they have good welfare properties. Moreover, in these equilibria, agents act as if they have quasi-linear utility. Hence wealth effects vanish. We use this to construct a new model of monetary exchange. As in Lagos-Wright, trade occurs in both centralized and decentralized markets, but while that model requires quasi-linearity, we have general preferences. Given our specification looks much like the textbook Arrow-Debreu model, we think this constitutes progress on the classic problem of integrating money and general equilibrium theory. We also use the model to discuss another classic issue: the relation between inflation and unemploymentMoney, Indivisibilities, Sunspots.