Rational inattention, multi-product firms and the neutrality of money

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Pasten, Ernesto; Schoenle, Raphael
• 署名单位: Central Bank of Chile; Brandeis University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2016.04.004
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 1-16
• 关键词: rational inattention; Multi-product firms; Monetary non-neutrality

摘要

In a model where firms set prices under rational inattention we allow them to produce multiple goods. In addition to monetary shocks and firm-specific shocks, good-specific shocks affect firms, consistent with micro price data. When per-good expected losses in profits from inattention are held constant, monetary non-neutrality quickly vanishes as the number of goods per firm rises. This result is due to (1) economies of scope that arise naturally in the multi-product setting, where processing information is costly but using already internalized information is free, and (2) good-specific shocks. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.