We modify the Kiyotaki and Wright (1991, J. Economic Theory 53, 215 235; 1993, Amer. Econom. Rev. 83, 63-77) framework so that there is a universal double coincidence of wants in all barter matches. We also introduce divisible service sidepayments into the model and allow agents to bargain over bundles of goods, services and money in bilateral matches. In asymmetric matches, the agent that valu...

This paper identifies two channels through which the economy can generate endogenous inflation and output volatility, an empirical regularity, by introducing model uncertainty into a Lucas-type monetary model. The equilibrium path of inflation depends on agents’ expectations and a vector of exogenous random variables. Following Branch and Evans (2006a) agents are assumed to underparameterize th...

One of the more puzzling results in the expectations hypothesis (EH) testing literature is the Campbell-Shiller paradox. In an influential paper, Campbell and Shiller (1991) found that “the slope of the term structure almost always gives a forecast in the wrong direction for the short-term change in the yield on the longer bond, but gives a forecast in the right direction for long-term changes ...

The phrase “liquidity effect” was introduced by Milton Friedman (1969) to describe the first of three effects on interest rates caused by an exogenous change in the money supply. The lack of empirical support for the liquidity effect using monthly and quarterly monetary and reserve aggregates data led Hamilton (1997) to suggest that more convincing evidence of the liquidity effect could be obta...

I study a search economy in which intermediaries are the driving force coordinating the economy on the use of a unique, common medium of exchange for transactions. If search frictions delay trade, intermediaries offering immediate exchange opportunities can make arbitrage gains from a price spread, but they have to solve the search market’s allocation problem. Intermediaries solve this problem ...

Firm cash holdings increased substantially from 1980 to 2013. The overall distribution of firm cash holdings changed in the same period. We study the implications of these changes for monetary policy. We use Compustat data and a model with financial frictions that allows the calculation of the monetary policy effects according to the distribution of cash holdings. We find that the interest rate...

This paper investigates a Trejos-Wright random matching model of money with a consumer take-it-or-leave-it offer and with individual money holdings in the set {0, 1, 2}. It is shown that three kinds of monetary steady states exist generically: (1) purestrategy full-support steady states, (2) mixed-strategy full-support steady states, and (3) non-full-support steady states. A full-support steady...

Even though labor income represents about two thirds of disposal income to household, its role has largely been neglected by asset pricing models. In this paper, we solve a general equilibrium model which can both rationalize important feature of labor markets as well as financial markets. To this end, we embed labor market search frictions into a business cycle model where the representative h...

We present a simple model with income risk and borrowing constraints which yields a “discounted Euler equation.” This feature of the model mutes the extent to which news about far future real interest rates (i.e., forward guidance) affects current outcomes. We show that this simple model approximates the outcomes of a rich model with uninsurable income risk and borrowing constraints in response...