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The optimal inflation target in an economy with limited enforcement

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Abstract
We formulate the central bank?s problem of selecting an optimal long-run inflation rate as the choice of a distorting tax by a planner who wishes to maximize discounted stationary utility for a heterogeneous population of infinitely-lived households in an economy with constant aggregate income and public information. Households are segmented into cash agents, who store value in currency alone, and credit agents who have access to both currency and loans. The planner?s problem is equivalent to choosing inflation and nominal interest rates consistent with a resource constraint, and with an incentive constraint that ensures credit agents prefer the superior consumption- smoothing power of loans to that of currency. We show that the optimum inflation rate is positive, because inflation reduces the value of the outside option for credit agents and raises their debt limits.

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  • Gaetano Antinolfi & Costas Azariadis & James B. Bullard, 2012. "The optimal inflation target in an economy with limited enforcement," Working Papers 2012-044, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2012-044
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    Cited by:

    1. Aleksandra Halka, 2016. "How the central bank’s reaction function in small open economies evolved during the crisis," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 47(4), pages 301-318.
    2. Alexei Deviatov & Neil Wallace, 2010. "Interest on Cash with Endogenous Fiscal Policy," Working Papers 2010-012, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    3. Di Bartolomeo Giovanni & Tirelli Patrizio & Acocella Nicola, 2010. "Trend inflation, endogenous mark-ups and the non-vertical Phillips curve," wp.comunite 0065, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    4. Sanches, Daniel & Williamson, Stephen, 2010. "Money and credit with limited commitment and theft," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(4), pages 1525-1549, July.
    5. Jung, Kuk Mo, 2018. "Uncertainty-induced dynamic inefficiency and the optimal inflation rate," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 486-506.
    6. Wataru Nozawa & Hoonsik Yang, 2018. "Optimal Inflation in a Model of Inside Money: a Further Result," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 19(1), pages 137-150, May.
    7. Aleksandra Halka, 2015. "Lessons from the crisis.Did central banks do their homework?," NBP Working Papers 224, Narodowy Bank Polski.
    8. Cecion, Martina & Coenen, Günter & Gerke, Rafael & Le Bihan, Hervé & Motto, Roberto & Aguilar, Pablo & Ajevskis, Viktors & Giesen, Sebastian & Albertazzi, Ugo & Gilbert, Niels & Al-Haschimi, Alexander, 2021. "The ECB’s price stability framework: past experience, and current and future challenges," Occasional Paper Series 269, European Central Bank.
    9. Stephen Williamson & Daniel Sanches, 2008. "Money and Credit with Limited Commitment," 2008 Meeting Papers 502, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    10. Claudio Cesaroni, 2017. "Optimal Long-Run Inflation and the Informal Economy," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 46, Bank of Lithuania.
    11. Rufin-Willy Mantsie, 2012. "In Search of Inflation Rate Compatible with Growth Target in CEMAC Countries," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 55(4), pages 329-350.

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    Keywords

    Inflation targeting; Deflation (Finance); Monetary policy;
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