We investigate the role of settlement in a dynamic model of a payment system where the ability of participants to perform certain welfare-improving transactions is subject to random and unobservable shocks. In the absence of settlement, the full information first-best allocation cannot be...

In this paper, we develop a model of money and reserve-holding banks. We allow for private liabilities to circulate as media of exchange in a random-matching framework. Some individuals, which we identify as banks, are endowed with a technology to issue private notes and to keep reserves with a...

We introduce "lack-of-recall" of past transactions as an alternative assumption to anonymity in a model where trade is centralized. In environments where there is an intertemporal lack-of-double-coincidence of wants problem and lack-of-commitment, lack-of-recall can give rise to monetary...

The authors 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 the authors identify as banks, are endowed with the technology to issue notes and to record-keep reserves with a...

The authors study the design of efficient intertemporal payment arrangements when the ability of agents to perform certain welfare-improving transactions is subject to random and unobservable shocks. Efficiency is achieved via a payment system that assigns balances to participants, adjusts them...

We analyze bureaucracy and corruption in a market with decentralized exchange and "lemons." Exchange is modeled as a sequence of bilateral, random matches. Agents have private information about the quality of goods they produce and can supplement trade with socially inefficient bribes....

The authors study credible information transmission by a benevolent central bank. They consider two possibilities: direct revelation through an announcement, versus indirect information transmission through monetary policy. These two ways of transmitting information have very different...

We study the coexistence of monetary and credit transactions in a model where exchange is decentralized. Agents belong to different locations which are informationally separated. The equilibrium mix of monetary and credit transactions is characterized as a function of the frequency of meetings...

We study the nature of monetary policy in a model where uncertainty can lead to a discrepancy between economic agents' beliefs and true fundamentals. Monetary policy transmits information about fundamentals. The public nature of this information can help agents to coordinate their decisions....