This paper relates to the macroeconomic and monetary policy aspects of the so-called "credit channel" of monetary transmission. We present an intertemporal macroeconomic equilibrium model of a competitive economy where current production is financed by bank credit, and then we use it to identify...

We examine the extent, causes and consequences of transition countries’ use of foreign currency as a co-circulating medium of exchange and store of value. Using new estimates of foreign cash in circulation, we obtain unique measures of currency substitution, asset substitution, and...

The purpose of the paper is to present a tractable model of an old topic which is becoming more important in macroeconomics: the link between financial structure and economic activity.

This paper studies the structure and time consistency of optimal monetary policy from a public finance perspective in an economy where agents differ in preference for liquidity and holdings of nominal assets. I find that the presence of distributional effects breaks the link between time...

We estimate monetary policy reaction functions for the Bundesbank (1979:4-1998:12) and the European Central Bank (1999:1-2003:7). The Bundesbank regime can be characterised, both before and after German reunification, by an inflation weight of 1.2 and an output weight of 0.4. The estimates for...

Three issues regarding asset prices and monetary policy are clarified. First, increases in asset prices due to monetary expansion, despite their “paper” wealth nature, tend to make current consumers as a whole wealthier. Second, the weaker (stronger) effect of monetary policy on investment...

This paper compares the ECB’s conduct of monetary policy with that of the Bundesbank. Estimated monetary policy reaction functions for the Bundesbank (1979:4-1998:12) and the European Central Bank (1999:1- 2004:5) show that, while the ECB and the Bundesbank react similarly to expected...

In this paper we use a bivariate, fractionally integrated, autoregressive, moving average model of money and real output to extend Fisher and Seater (1993) long-run neutrality requirements to long-memory processes. We derive new restrictions on the order of the nominal and real variable and...

The arisal of experimental systems to transfer value (digital cash) over the Internet is of interest to monetary policy circles. These systems claim to turn the International Financial System back to the days of free banking, with uncontrolled and rampant issue of currency by private banks. This...