The role of distinct currencies is studied using a random-matching model with randomized trades. The equilibrium concept is the pairwise core in meetings. We show that there exist equilibria in which home and foreign currency play distinct roles and in which the quantities of trade and output...

From 1863-1914, banks in the U.S. could issue notes subject to full collateral, a per-period tax on outstanding notes, redemption of notes on demand, and a clearing fee per issued note cleared through the Treasury. The system failed to satisfy a purported arbitrage condition; i.e., the yield on...

Optimal monetary policy is studied in a model with (i) heterogeneity in the degree to which different people are monitored (have publicly known histories); (ii) idiosyncratic shocks that give rise to heterogeneity in earning and spending realizations; and (iii) central-bank intervention in a...

This paper reviews various explanations of why monetary assets have a low rate of return. Th e oversimplifying suggestion is that there are no natural explanation s for this low return and, therefore, that it is to be explained by l egal restrictions that inhibit the issue of private...

The Lagos-Wright model -- a monetary model in which pairwise meetings alternate in time with a centralized meeting -- has been extensively analyzed, but always using particular trading protocols. Here, trading protocols are replaced by two alternative notions of implementability: one that allows...

Under the U.S. National Banking System (NBS), in effect from 1863--1914, banks with national charters could issue notes under four main restrictions: full collateral in the form of government bonds, a per-period tax on outstanding notes, redemption of notes into (outside) money on demand, and a...