We study the emergence and coexistence of monetary and credit transactions in a model where exchange is decentralized. Agents belong to different villages which are informationally separated. The frequency of meetings between any two different villages decreases as their respective geographic...

In environments with no commitment and with a need for intertemporal trade, bounded recall is shown to be a sufficient friction for a receipt system (fiat money) to lead to improved allocations in an otherwise frictionless Walrasian model. The absence of other frictions makes price determination...

We introduce an element of centralization in a random matching model of money that allows for private liabilities to circulate as media of exchange. Some agents, which we identify as banks, are endowed with the technology to issue notes and to record-keep reserves with a central clearinghouse,...

We study a dynamic model with positive gross flows between employment and unemployment. There is moral hazard associated with search effort and job-retention effort. A quantitative comparison of the unemployment insurance system currently in place in the United States with an optimal system...

A banking model is constructed where roles for government- provided deposit insurance and discount window lending arise when there are restrictions on branch banking. Banks arise endogenously as an efficient arrangement for sharing risk. Discount window lending permits better risk sharing by...