The Financial Accelerator, Wages, and Optimal Monetary Policy

The effects of labor market outcomes on firms’ loan demand and on credit intermediation are studied in this paper. In a first step, I investigate how wages in the production sector affect bank net worth and the process of financial intermediation in partial equilibrium. Second, the role of the identified channels are studied in general equilibrium using a new-Keynesian DSGEmodel with financial frictions and an endogenous financial accelerator mechanism. Third, I investigate in this setting the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. The analysis reveals that financial frictions reduce the factor demand elasticity of capital to a change in wages. This finding is relevant for the determination of optimal monetary policy, both for financial shocks and supply shocks inflation stabilization imposes high welfare costs. At the same time, stabilizing nominal wages becomes welfare beneficial by reducing both the volatility of the credit spread and the output gap