During the recent U.S. financial crisis, the large decline in economic activity and credit was accompanied by a large increase in the dispersion of growth rates across firms. However, even though aggregate labor and output fell sharply during this period, labor productivity did not. These...

We seem to observe different patterns of exchange at different times and in different places. The first goal of this paper is to develop a model of money as a medium of exchange which allows multiple transaction patterns. A dynamic version of Shubik’s trading post economy is used, and it is...

This paper is motivated by empirical observations on the comovements of currency velocity, inflation, and the relative size of the credit services sector. We document these comovements and incorporate into a monetary growth model a credit services sector that provides services that help people...

This is a note on the analysis of inflation and taxation in Cooley and Hansen’s cash-in-advance economy described in their paper “The Welfare Costs of Moderate Inflations.” Basic issues concerning the costs and consequences of inflation are considered, their results are assessed, and some...

Stochastic inflation affects the risk characteristics, measured by the equity premium and the correlation of the equity’s return with consumption, in a fundamental way. The riskiness of a dollar-denominated asset depends on two conditional covariances: the covariance of the marginal rate of...