Money, Inflation, and Capital Formation: An Analysis of the Long Run from the Perspective of Overlapping Generations Models (Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems)

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of long run effects of inflation on real activity. The first part presents detailed surveys of the theoretical and empirical literature. The second part introduces a monetary version of an overlapping generations economy with production and a single outside asset as a base model and offers thereby a unified framework to organize the debate. Drawing on recent contributions from the theoretical literature and new results established by the author, various modifications to the base model are discussed. These modifications address a diverse range of features such as imperfections in credit markets, random liquidity needs, transaction aspects of money in a context with multiple means of payment, and the coexistence of multiple outside assets. Throughout the second part of the book consistent notation is used, and particular attention is paid to a careful classification of comparative statics and dynamic properties of steady state equilibria.