The origin of inflation in a domestic bank-based payment system

Amos Pesenti

No 457, FSES Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland

Abstract: This paper shows how a disorderly-working bank-based payment system negatively affects monetary stability. This occurs when firms invest their profits in production with the aim of forming and accumulating (fixed) capital, while at the same time banks carry out the payment of workers’ wages and enter the corresponding payment order in the architecture for domestic payments. In fact, if the payment of wages is financed with profits, this payment operation corresponds to an emission of (empty) money without it being endowed with value, to wit, purchasing power. It follows that the existing value of money is “diluted” in a greater amount of money units, so much so that the current purchasing power of each unit of money is reduced. This monetary phenomenon can be defined as inflation, which, in turn, exerts an upward pressure on the general price level. A structural reform of the bank-based payment system, as suggested in this paper, may consequently improve the defective architecture for domestic payments and thereby promote long-run monetary stability.

Keywords: banks; deflation; inflation; money; payment systems; profits; wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E20 E31 E42 E51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2015-08-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba, nep-mac and nep-mon
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://doc.rero.ch/record/256397/files/WP_SES_457.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00457

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://doc.rero.ch/record/256397

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in FSES Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland Bd de Pérolles 90, CH-1700 Fribourg. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mustapha Obbad ().