Search, Market Power, and Inflation Dynamics

The short-run non-neutrality of money and its implications for inflation dynamics are examined in a monetary search economy with heterogeneous agents. Lump-sum money injections affect the distribution of money holdings in equilibrium and thus generate short-run non-neutrality. The response of prices and inflation to shocks of this type depends on the changes in households' search intensity that they induce. Monetary shocks change the distribution of prices in equilibrium and thus alter the returns to search. The resulting changes in optimal search intensity affect sellers' profit maximizing markups and thus may result in sluggish price adjustment and persistent inflation despite the absence of restrictions of sellers; ability to set prices in every period