Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T20:55:54.916Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A NOTE ON THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF USING DIVISIA CONSUMPTION AND MONETARY AGGREGATES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2007

LEIGH DRAKE
Affiliation:
Nottingham University Business School
ADRIAN R. FLEISSIG
Affiliation:
California State University, Fullerton

Abstract

Using U.K. data that are consistent with utility maximizing behavior by consumers, we construct aggregates for both consumption goods (nondurables and services) and monetary assets that are consistent with economic aggregation theory. Using these aggregates and the stock of durable goods, we estimate the elasticities of substitution between various consumption goods and monetary assets. These estimates are compared to the corresponding results from conventional monetary and consumption aggregates. The results give important information for monetary policy and the monetary transmission mechanism. In particular, these substitution estimates provide insight into the recent changes in expenditure on durable goods. We also show that the use of conventional U.K. consumption and monetary aggregates often give incorrect estimates of substitution and can provide misleading policy insights.

Type
NOTES
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson Richard, Barry Jones and Travis Nesmith 1997 Building new monetary services indexes: Concepts, methods, and data. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 5382.Google Scholar
Atkeson Andrew and Masao A. Ogaki 1996 Wealth-varying intertemporal elasticities of substitution: Evidence from panel and aggregate data. Journal of Monetary Economics 38, 507534.Google Scholar
Barnett William A. 1978 The user cost of money. Economics Letters 1 (2), 145149.Google Scholar
Barnett William A. 1980 Economic monetary aggregates: An application of index number theory and aggregation theory. Journal of Econometrics 14, 1148.Google Scholar
Barnett W.A. 1982 The optimal level of monetary aggregation. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 14, 687710.Google Scholar
Barnett William A. 1987 The microeconomic theory of monetary aggregation. In W.A. Barnett and K.J. Singleton (eds.), New Approaches to Monetary Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 115168.
Barnett William A. 2002 Tastes and technology: Curvature is not sufficient for regularity. Journal of Econometrics 108, 199202.Google Scholar
Barnett William A., Douglas Fisher and Apostolos Serletis 1992 Microeconomics and consumer demand. Journal of Economic Literature 30 (4), 20862119.Google Scholar
Barnett William A. and Meenakshi Pasupathy 2003 Regularity of the generalized quadratic production model: A counter example. Econometric Reviews 22 (2), 135154.Google Scholar
Bank of England (2005) Divisia money. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 3946.
Belongia Michael T. 1996 Measurement matters: Recent results from monetary economics reexamined. Journal of Political Economy 104 (5), 10651084.Google Scholar
Belongia Michael T. and Alec K. Chrystal 1992 An admissible monetary aggregate for the United Kingdom, Review of Economics and Statistics 73, 497503.Google Scholar
Blackorby Charles and Robert R. Russell 1989 Will the real elasticity of substitution please stand up? American Economic Review 79 (4), 882888.Google Scholar
Chrystal Alec K. and Ronald MacDonald 1994 Empirical evidence on the recent behavior and usefulness of simple-sum and weighted measures of the money stock. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, 73109.Google Scholar
Cooley Thomas F. and Gary D. Hansen 1989 The inflation tax in a real business cycle model. American Economic Review 79 (4), 733748.Google Scholar
Davis George C. and Jean Gauger 1996 measuring substitution in monetary-asset demand systems. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 14 (2), 203208.Google Scholar
Diewert Erwin W. 1974 Intertemporal consumer theory and the demand for durables. Econometrica 42, 497516.Google Scholar
Diewert Erwin W. 1976 Exact and superlative index numbers. Journal of Econometrics 4, 115145.Google Scholar
Diewert Erwin W. 1978 Superlative index numbers and consistency in aggregation. Econometrica 46, 883900.Google Scholar
Donovan Donal J. 1978 Modeling the demand for liquid assets: An application to Canada. International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, 676704.Google Scholar
Drake Leigh 1996 Relative Prices in the UK personal sector money demand function. The Economic Journal 106, 12091226.Google Scholar
Drake Leigh 1997 Nonparametric demand analysis of UK personal sector decisions on consumption, leisure and monetary assets: A reappraisal. Review of Economics and Statistics, 679683.Google Scholar
Drake Leigh and Alec K. Chrystal 1997 Personal sector money demand in the UK. Oxford Economic Papers 49, 188206.Google Scholar
Drake Leigh, Adrian R. Fleissig and James L. Swofford 2003 A semi-nonparametric approach to neoclassical consumer theory and the demand for UK monetary assets. Economica 70 99120.Google Scholar
Drake Leigh and Adrian R. Fleissig 2006 Admissible monetary aggregates and U.K. inflation targeting. Oxford Economic Papers 58, 681705.Google Scholar
Eastwood Brian 1991 Asymptotic normality and consistency of semi-nonparametric regression estimators using an upwards f test truncation rule. Journal of Econometrics 48, 151181.Google Scholar
Eichenbaum Martin and Lars Hansen 1990 Estimating models with intertemporal substitutionusing aggregate time series data. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 8, 5369.Google Scholar
Elger Thomas, Barry Jones, David Edgerton and Jane Binner 2005 The Optimal Level of Monetary Aggregation in the U.K. Lund University, Department of Economics, Working Paper No. 2004:7.
El Badawi, Ibrahim Ronald A. Gallant and Geraldo Souza 1983 An elasticity can be estimated consistently without a prior knowledge of functional form. Econometrica 51 (6), 17311752.Google Scholar
Fisher Douglas 1992 Money-demand variability: A demand-systems approach. Journal of Business Economic Statistics, 143151.Google Scholar
Fisher Douglas and Adrian R. Fleissig 1997 Monetary aggregation and demand for assets. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 29 (4), 458475.Google Scholar
Fisher Douglas, Adrian R. Fleissig and Apostolos Serletis 2001 Flexible functional forms and the aggregate consumption function. Journal of Applied Econometrics 16, 5180.Google Scholar
Fisher Paul, Suzanne Hudson and Mahmood Pradhan 1993 Divisia Indices for Money: An Appraisal of Theory and Evidence. Bank of England Working Paper Series 9.
Fleissig Adrian R. 1977 The consumer consumption conundrum: An explanation. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking 29 (2), 177192.Google Scholar
Fleissig Adrian R. and James L. Swofford James 1996 A dynamic asymptotically ideal model of money demand. Journal of Monetary Economics 37, 371380.Google Scholar
Fleissig Adrian R. and James L. Swofford 1997 Dynamic asymptotically ideal models and finite approximation. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 15 (4), 482492.Google Scholar
Fleissig Adrian R. and Gerald A. Whitney 2003 A new PC based test for Varian's Weak Separability Test. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 21 (1), 133144.Google Scholar
Friedman Milton 1956 The quantity theory of money: A restatement. In M. Friedman (ed.), Studies in the Quantity Theory of Money. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
Gallant Ronald A. 1981 On the bias in flexible functional forms and an essentially unbiased form: The Fourier Flexible Form. Journal of Econometrics, 211245.Google Scholar
Hamilton Robert and Beverly Morris 2002 Durables and the recent strength of household spending. The Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 186191.Google Scholar
Hancock Matthew 2005 Divisia money. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 45 (1), 3946.Google Scholar
Jones Barry E., Donald Dutkowsky and Thomas Elger 2005 Sweep programs and optimal monetary aggregation. Journal of Banking and Finance 29, 483508.Google Scholar
Lucas Robert and Nancy Stokey 1987 Money and interest in a cash-in-advance economy. Econometrica 55 (3), 491513.Google Scholar
Masao Ogaki and Carmen Reinhar 1998 Measuring intertemporal substitution: The role of durable goods. Journal of Political Economy 106, 10781098.Google Scholar
Patterson Keith D. 1991 A Non-parametric analysis of personal sector decisions on consumption, liquid assets and leisure. The Economic Journal 101, 11031116.Google Scholar
Power John 2004 Durable spending, relative prices and consumption. The Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 2131.Google Scholar
Apostolos Serletis and Asghar Shahmoradi 2005 Semi-nonparametric estimates of the demand for money in the United States. Macroeconomic Dynamics 9, 542559.Google Scholar
Stracca Livio 2004 Does liquidity matter? Properties of a Divisia monetary aggregate in the Euro area. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 66 (3), 309331.Google Scholar
Swofford James L. and Gerald Whitney 1987 Nonparametric tests of utility maximization and weak separability for consumption, leisure and money. Review of Economics and Statistics, 458464.Google Scholar
Swofford James L. and Gerald A. Whitney 1988 A comparison of non-parametric tests of weak separability for annual and quarterly data on consumption, leisure, and money. Journal of Business and Economics Statistics, 241246.Google Scholar
Varian Hal R. 1982 Nonparametric approach to demand analysis. Econometrica, 945973.Google Scholar