This paper incorporates a distortionary tax into a microfoundations of money framework and revisits the optimum quantity of money. The money constraint in the decentralized market plays a key role in the optimal policy. Only if the constraint is binding can fiscal policy alter the agents’ surplus shares; monetary, but not fiscal, policy affects the agents’ bargaining position, leaving a special...

Changes in monetary policy are typically implemented gradually, an empirical observation known as interest-rate smoothing. This finding is a puzzle for most monetary models because they predict an immediate response of monetary policy to macroeconomic developments. We propose an explanation of optimal interest-rate smoothing by applying the recent lesson from the related literature on the monet...

This paper examines the magnitude of informational problems associated with the implementation and interpretation of simple monetary policy rules. Using Taylor’s rule as an example, I demonstrate that real-time policy recommendations differ considerably from those obtained with ex post revised data. Further, estimated policy reaction functions based on ex post revised data provide misleading de...

Institut International d’Economie Politique IIEP International Economic Policy Institute IEPI Institut International d’Economie Politique IIEP International Economic Policy Institute IEPI Institut International d’Economie Politique IIEP International Economic Policy Institute IEPI Institut International d’Economie Politique IIEP International Economic Policy Institute IEPI Institut Internationa...