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Article
Optimal choice of monetary instruments in an economy with real and liquidity shocks
Economics Working Papers (2002–2016)
  • Joydeep Bhattacharya, Iowa State University
  • Rajesh Singh, Iowa State University
Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
5-3-2007
Working Paper Number
WP #05016, May 2005 revised May 2007; Old working paper #12355
Abstract

Faced with real and nominal shocks, what should a benevolent central bank do, fix the money growth rate or target the inflation rate? In this paper, we make a first attempt at studying the optimal choice of monetary policy instruments in a micro-founded model of money. Specifically, we produce an overlapping generations economy in which limited communication and stochastic relocation creates an endogenous transactions role for fiat money. We find that when the shocks are real, welfare is higher under money growth targeting; when the shocks are nominal and not large, welfare is higher under inflation rate targeting. While under inflation rate targeting, it is always optimal to pursue an expansionary policy, it is never optimal to do so under money growth targeting.

Disciplines
File Format
application/pdf
Length
51 pages
File Function
Revised version: May 2007 (Original draft: May 2005)
Citation Information
Joydeep Bhattacharya and Rajesh Singh. "Optimal choice of monetary instruments in an economy with real and liquidity shocks" (2007)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joydeep_bhattacharya/26/