Commodity money under private information

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Li, YT
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-3932(95)01230-3
• 发表日期: 1995
• 页码: 573-592
• 关键词: commodity money; private information; uncertainty

摘要

Private information is introduced into the Kiyotaki-Wright model of commodity money in terms of qualitative uncertainty concerning the good which would be the unique medium of exchange under complete information. Producers are allowed to produce high- or low-quality versions of that good, and people may not always recognize its quality. It is shown that commodities that suffer from qualitative uncertainty may still be used as the medium of exchange when the private information problem is not too severe. This is so despite the fact that, in some equilibria, there is necessarily some low-quality commodity money in circulation. When the information problem is so severe that the good of uncertain quality cannot be the unique money, there can exist an equilibrium with dual commodity monies of which one is the good subject to qualitative uncertainty.