The recent financial deregulation and the interest elasticity of the simple M1 demand function : an empirical note

The main objective of this note is to examine whether the interest elasticity of money demand has increased during the last few years. A simple money demand regression that includes additional intercept and slope dummy variables defined over the interval 1981.01 to 1985.03 is estimated for the whole sample period 1961.01-1985.03. The regression results show that the elasticity of money demand with respect to market interest rates has for now increased. No shifts are detected in income and time trend elasticities. The in-sample predictions of the more interest-sensitive money demand regression are broadly consistent with the actual behavior of Ml observed so far in the 1980s. The residuals also suggest that the MI demand function has been subject to transitory shocks over the same period.