دانلود رایگان مقاله تورم، اعتبار و واحد ایندکس شده حساب

Abstract

A simple monetary model is constructed to study the implications of an indexed unit of account (Indexed-UoA). In an economy with an Indexed-UoA, the credit-trade friction attributed to inflation can be resolved and unexpected inflation causes no redistribution effect between debtors and creditors. However, in an economy without an Indexed-UoA, credit trades occur only if inflation is not too high and unexpected inflation renders debtors better off, but creditors worse off. In a high-inflation economy, money is used as a unit of account for spot trades only and an Indexed-UoA emerges as a unit of account for deferred-payment trades.

6. Concluding Remarks

We have set out a simple monetary model suitable for studying the nature of an Indexed-UoA. Our results suggest that the presence of an IndexedUoA facilitates credit trades against inflation and hence eventually improves welfare in a high-inflation economy. Different complications relevant to credit trades could be added to our model. For example, as in Berentsen, Camera, and Waller (2007), credit trades could be introduced not in the form of a deferred-payment contract but in the form of lending and borrowing.7 In such a variant, due to interest payments being determined endogenously in a financial market, the transaction cost of credit would be proportional to the transaction amount. But it is not believed that such a change would alter our main results qualitatively. The framework could also be extended to study the relationship between default risk and inflation by incorporating financial market frictions such as limited commitment or private information.