How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation?

How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation? PDF Author: Hasan Bakhshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper quantifies for the United Kingdom the general equilibrium costs of individuals holding cash to economise on 'shopping time'. These are a subset of a wider range of costs caused by inflation. The paper tests whether or not money balances tend to a finite number as nominal interest rates tend to zero, and investigates how sensitive to this test are the welfare implications of rates of inflation above the Friedman rule (a zero nominal interest rate). The paper then explores how uncertainties about the shape of the money demand curve translate into uncertainties about these welfare costs of inflation. A key uncertainty is the existence of a satiation point for money balances. Using Monte Carlo tests, it is shown that without observations at nominal interest rates very close to zero, the power of satiation tests can be very low. This finding may also be important for evaluating whether/how monetary policy could stabilise the economy in the event of a shock large enough to require that nominal interest rates are driven close to zero.

How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation?

How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation? PDF Author: Hasan Bakhshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper quantifies for the United Kingdom the general equilibrium costs of individuals holding cash to economise on 'shopping time'. These are a subset of a wider range of costs caused by inflation. The paper tests whether or not money balances tend to a finite number as nominal interest rates tend to zero, and investigates how sensitive to this test are the welfare implications of rates of inflation above the Friedman rule (a zero nominal interest rate). The paper then explores how uncertainties about the shape of the money demand curve translate into uncertainties about these welfare costs of inflation. A key uncertainty is the existence of a satiation point for money balances. Using Monte Carlo tests, it is shown that without observations at nominal interest rates very close to zero, the power of satiation tests can be very low. This finding may also be important for evaluating whether/how monetary policy could stabilise the economy in the event of a shock large enough to require that nominal interest rates are driven close to zero.

How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation?

How Uncertain are the Welfare Costs of Inflation? PDF Author: Hasan Bakhshi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Inflation (Finance)
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description


How Uncertain are the Welfare Cost of Inflation?

How Uncertain are the Welfare Cost of Inflation? PDF Author: H. Bakhasi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The Welfare Effects of Inflation

The Welfare Effects of Inflation PDF Author: Karl-Heinz Tödter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
This paper reviews theory and evidence of the welfare effects of inflation from a costbenefit perspective. Basic models and selected empirical results are discussed. Historically, in assessing the welfare effects of inflation, the distortion of money demand played a prominent role. More recently, interactions of inflation and taxation came into focus. Growth effects of inflation as well as welfare effects of unanticipated inflation and of inflation uncertainty are also addressed. To assess the policy question whether inflation should be reduced or eliminated, the costs of disinflation play a role. Finally, the trade-off between the benefits of reducing inflation and the costs of disinflation is discussed and an overall assessment of the net welfare effects of achieving price stability is provided.

The Welfare Effects of Inflation

The Welfare Effects of Inflation PDF Author: Karl-Heinz Tödter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783865583659
Category :
Languages : de
Pages : 64

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Book Description
This paper reviews theory and evidence of the welfare effects of inflation from a cost benefit perspective. Basic models and selected empirical results are discussed. Historically, in assessing the welfare effects of inflation, the distortion of money demand played a prominent role. More recently, interactions of inflation and taxation came into focus. Growth effects of inflation as well as welfare effects of unanticipated inflation and of inflation uncertainty are also addressed. To assess the policy question whether inflation should be reduced or eliminated, the costs of disinflation play a role. Finally, the trade-off between the benefits of reducing inflation and the costs of disinflation is discussed and an overall assessment of the net welfare effects of achieving price stability is provided.

Welfare Costs of Inflation, Seigniorage, and Financial innovation

Welfare Costs of Inflation, Seigniorage, and Financial innovation PDF Author: Mr.Jose De Gregorio
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 145193128X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 34

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Book Description
This paper examines the welfare effects of mitigating the costs of inflation. In a simple model where money reduces transaction costs, a fall in the costs of inflation is equivalent to financial innovation. This can be caused by paying interest on deposits, indexing money, or “dollarizing.” Results indicate that financial innovation raises welfare in low inflation economies while reducing it in high inflation economies, due to the offsetting indirect effect of higher inflation to finance the budget.

Welfare Cost of (Low) Inflation

Welfare Cost of (Low) Inflation PDF Author: Mr.Howell H. Zee
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1451853440
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 22

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Book Description
This paper provides general equilibrium estimates of the steady-state welfare gains of lowering inflation from a low level to close to price stability, using an overlapping-generations growth model. Money demand is modeled on the basis that real money balances are a factor of production. Assuming a standard Fisher equation modified by the presence of an income tax, it is found that inflation unambiguously reduces capital intensity, drives up the before-tax real rate of return to capital, and unambiguously imposes a life-time welfare cost. This welfare cost is, however, quantitatively very modest (under 0.2 percent of GDP annually) within reasonable ranges of all parameter values.

Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the 'Adaptability' of U.S. Corporate Taxes

Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the 'Adaptability' of U.S. Corporate Taxes PDF Author: Richard J. Rosen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Alternative corporate tax systems differ in their ability to adapt to changes in the rate of inflation. Absent complete indexing of depreciation allowances, a tax system may use the expected inflation rate to set accelerated depreciation allowances in a way that minimizes the welfare loss from them is allocation of capital. This welfare loss is a nonlinear function of the assumed inflation rate, however, so the welfare loss at the expected inflation rate may be quite different from the expected welfare loss. We compute these two welfare concepts for each of three alternative corporate tax schemes in the U.S. and for two different relationships between inflation and interest rates. One important finding is that the Auerbach-Jorgenson first year recovery plan is not equivalent to indexing as is often claimed, if uncertainty about inflation implies uncertainty about the real after-tax discount rate

The Welfare Cost of Perceived Policy Uncertainty

The Welfare Cost of Perceived Policy Uncertainty PDF Author: Erzo F. P. Luttmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Risk
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Policy uncertainty can reduce individual welfare when individuals have limited opportunities to mitigate or insure against consumption fluctuations induced by the policy uncertainty. For this reason, policy uncertainty surrounding future Social Security benefits may have important welfare costs. We field an original survey to measure the degree of policy uncertainty in Social Security and to estimate the impact of this uncertainty on individual welfare. On average, our survey respondents expect to receive only about 60 percent of the benefits they are supposed to get under current law. We document the wide variation around the expectation for most respondents and the heterogeneity in the perceived distributions of future benefits across respondents. This uncertainty has real costs. Our central estimates show that on average individuals would be willing to forego around 6 percent of the benefits they are supposed to get under current law to remove the policy uncertainty associated with their future benefits. This translates to a risk premium from policy uncertainty equal to 10 percent of expected benefits.

A Transitional Analysis of the Welfare Cost of Inflation

A Transitional Analysis of the Welfare Cost of Inflation PDF Author: Clark A. Burdick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Inflation (Finance)
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description