Does Money Illusion Matter? An Experimental Approach

Ernst Fehr and Jean-Robert Tyran

No 2561, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Money illusion means that people behave differently when the same objective situation is represented in nominal terms rather than in real terms. This paper shows that seemingly innocuous differences in payoff representation cause pronounced differences in nominal price inertia indicating the behavioural importance of money illusion. In particular, if the payoff information is presented to subjects in nominal terms, price expectations and actual price choices after a fully anticipated negative nominal shock are much stickier than when payoff information is presented in real terms. In addition we show that money illusion causes asymmetric effects of negative and positive nominal shocks. While nominal inertia is quite substantial and long-lasting after a negative shock, it is rather small after a positive shock.

Keywords: Money illusion; Nominal inertia; Sticky prices; Non-neutrality of money (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 E52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000-09
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Related works:
Working Paper: Does Money Illusion Matter? An Experimental Approach (2000)
Working Paper: Does Money Illusion Matter? An Experimental Approach (1999)
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