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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 106 No. 6 1998

Transaction Services, Inflation, and Welfare

S. Rao Aiyagari1; R. Anton Braun2; Zvi Eckstein3,4

1 University of Rochester · 2 International University of Japan · 3 Boston University · 4 Tel Aviv University

Abstract

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 economize on money. Our model makes two new contributions. First, we show that direct evidence on the appropriately defined credit service sector for the United States is consistent with the welfare cost measured using an estimated money demand schedule. Second, we provide estimates of the welfare cost of inflation that have some new features.

DOI
10.1086/250047
Volume
106
Issue
6
Pages
1274-1301
Language
en
Sources
crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex

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