Strategic Money and Credit Ledgers

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Article
Abstract

Can a digital “bills-of-exchange” system be established? We show that a sufficiently dominant trading platform can and will set up a ledger that allows firms to purchase inputs by issuing tradable IOUs, which then serve as a savings vehicle and medium of exchange. The platform can incentivize the use of the ledger, and enforce repayment, by threatening exclusion from future trade, something that a stand-alone ledger cannot. In GE this lowers the equilibrium interest rate, but also increases the platform’s rent extraction. A public payment alternative that is competitive, but not too competitive, improves output and consumption.

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Publication Status
Submitted