Economists long considered money illusion to be largely irrelevant. Here we show, however, that money illusion has powerful effects on equilibrium selection. If we represent payoffs in nominal terms, choices converge to the Pareto inefficient equilibrium; however, if we lift the veil of money by representing payoffs in real terms, the Pareto efficient equilibrium is selected. We also show that ...

Evidence of smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) representations is found in two, out of three, time series of different measures of annual inflation in Colombia during this decade for monthly data. The STAR-type nonlinearities are asymmetric for inflation computed as the variation of CPI while for (a measure of ) core inflation are symmetric. Thus, LSTAR and ESTAR models were, respectively,...

After the Great Recession several central banks started setting negative nominal interest rates in an expansionary attempt, but effectiveness of this measure remains unclear. Negative can stimulate economy by lowering that commercial charge on loans, they also erode bank profitability squeezing deposit spreads. This paper studies effects a new DSGE model where intermediate transmission monetary...

We propose a model of banks’ exposure to movements in interest rates and their role the transmission monetary shocks. Since bank deposits provide liquidity, higher allow banks earn larger spreads on deposits. Therefore, if risk aversion is than one, optimal dynamic hedging strategy take losses when rise. This can be achieved by traditional maturity-mismatched balance sheet amplifies effects sho...

We introduce Large Scale Asset Purchases (LSAPs) in a New-Keynesian DSGE model that features distinct mortgage and corporate loan markets. We show that following a significant disruption of financial intermediation, central-bank purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are uniformly less effective at easing credit market conditions and stabilizing economic activity than outright purchases ...

In this paper a stochastic dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) model with capital accumulation is augmented by sticky wages. Wages are set in a staggered way as in Taylor (1980) implying that the optimal wage will be set for two periods. Prices are also sticky since there are adjustments cost of prices as in Rotemberg (1982). It is confirmed that wage staggering has a higher potential to generate...

We consider optimal monetary policy in New Keynesian models with inertia. First order conditions, which we call the MJBalternative, are found to improve upon the timeless perspective. The MJB-alternative is shown to be the best possible in the sense that it minimizes policymakers’ unconditional expected loss, and further, it is numerically found to offer significant improvement over the timeles...

Using a nonlinear structural VAR approach, we estimate the effects of exogenous monetary impulses in the presence of a zero lower bound constraint on nominal interest rates and examine the impact of such a constraint on the effectiveness of counter-cyclical monetary policies. We find that a binding zero bound on nominal interest rates can eliminate more than 50% of the effect of an exogenous mo...

We developed a simple monetary model to study the effects of tax evasion on the optimal inflation tax. The model is constructed so that inflation might be an indirect way of taxing the underground sector of the economy. We show that while there are theoretical reasons for positive optimal inflation rates, the effects are quantitatively small, even in countries with large underground sectors. We...

This paper analyzes the role of money in asset markets characterized by search frictions. We develop a dynamic framework that brings together a model for illiquid financial assets à la Duffie, Gârleanu, and Pedersen, and a search-theoretic model of monetary exchange à la Lagos and Wright. The presence of decentralized financial markets generates an essential role for money, which helps investor...