Is Money Essential? An Experimental Approach Staff Working Paper 2023-39 Janet Hua Jiang, Peter Norman, Daniela Puzzello, Bruno Sultanum, Randall Wright Monetary theory says that money is essential if it helps to achieve better incentive-feasible outcomes. We test this in the laboratory. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, E, E4, E5
Pricing Indefinitely Lived Assets: Experimental Evidence Staff Working Paper 2023-25 John Duffy, Janet Hua Jiang, Huan Xie We study the trading of an asset with bankruptcy risk. The traded price of the asset is, on average, 40% of the expected total dividend payments. We investigate which economic models can explain the low traded price. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C9, C91, C92, D, D8, D81, G, G1, G12
Learning in a Complex World: Insights from an OLG Lab Experiment Staff Working Paper 2023-13 Cars Hommes, Stefanie J. Huber, Daria Minina, Isabelle Salle This paper brings novel insights into group coordination and price dynamics in complex environments. We implement a chaotic overlapping-generation model in the lab and find that group coordination is always on the steady state or on the two-cycle and that behavior is non-monotonic. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models JEL Code(s): C, C6, C62, C68, C9, C91, C92, E, E1, E13, E7, E70, G, G1, G12, G4, G41
Inflation, Output, and Welfare in the Laboratory Staff Working Paper 2023-11 Janet Hua Jiang, Daniela Puzzello, Cathy Zhang We investigate the effect of inflation on output and welfare in the laboratory. Consistent with monetary theory, we find that inflation acts as a tax on monetary exchange and reduces output and welfare. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D8, D83, E, E4, E40
What to Target? Insights from a Lab Experiment Staff Working Paper 2021-53 Isabelle Salle In a laboratory experiment, we ask participants to predict inflation using three different policy regimes: inflation targeting—with and without greater communication of the target—average inflation targeting and price level targeting. We use participants’ predictions to compare the level and stability of inflation under each regime. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy communications, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E7
How Long is Forever in the Laboratory? Three Implementations of an Infinite-Horizon Monetary Economy Staff Working Paper 2021-16 Janet Hua Jiang, Daniela Puzzello, Cathy Zhang Standard monetary models adopt an infinite horizon with discounting. Testing these models in the lab requires implementing this horizon within a limited time frame. We compare three approaches to such an implementation and discuss their relative advantages. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D8, D83, E, E4, E40
Ten Isn’t Large! Group Size and Coordination in a Large-Scale Experiment Staff Working Paper 2020-30 Jasmina Arifovic, Cars Hommes, Anita Kopányi-Peuker, Isabelle Salle Economic activities typically involve coordination among a large number of agents. These agents have to anticipate what other agents think before making their own decisions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D8, D83, D9, D90, G, G2, G20
Monetary Payoff and Utility Function in Adaptive Learning Models Staff Working Paper 2019-50 Erhao Xie When players repeatedly face an identical or similar game (e.g., coordination game, technology adoption game, or product choice game), they may learn through experience to perform better in the future. This learning behaviour has important economic implications. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models JEL Code(s): C, C5, C57, C7, C72, C9, C92
Are Long-Horizon Expectations (De-)Stabilizing? Theory and Experiments Staff Working Paper 2019-27 George Evans, Cars Hommes, Isabelle Salle, Bruce McGough Most models in finance assume that agents make trading plans over the infinite future. We consider instead that they are boundedly rational and may only form forecasts over a limited horizon. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Central bank research, Economic models, Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D8, D84, E
Competing Currencies in the Laboratory Staff Working Paper 2017-53 Janet Hua Jiang, Cathy Zhang We investigate competition between two intrinsically worthless currencies as a result of decentralized interactions between human subjects. We design a laboratory experiment based on a simple two-country, two-currency search model to study factors that affect circulation patterns and equilibrium selection. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D8, D83, E, E4, E40