No. 274 The Redistributive Effects of Inflation: an International Perspective

by Paola Boel

September 2013 (Updated February 2017)

Abstract

We investigate the redistributive effects of expected inflation using a microfounded monetary model where agents differ in their degree of patience and consumption risk. Money is essential, but agents can insure against consumption risk also with bonds that offer some degree of inflation protection and that are traded in financial markets with limited participation. As long as the extent of disparities in discount factors is limited, agents hold both assets in equilibrium though in different quantities according to their type. The model is then calibrated using harmonized microdata from the Luxembourg Wealth Study for a subsample of OECD countries. We find inflation does not necessarily act as a regressive tax. Indeed, the magnitude and even the direction of inflation's redistributive effects depend not only on wealth distribution, but also on bonds' real returns and liquidity, in turn affected by the share of monetary trade.

Keywords:

Money, Heterogeneity, Calibration, Welfare Cost of Inflation

JEL codes:

E4, E5