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ECON 3440C
Tasso Adamopoulos
York University
Fall 2021
Lecture 2
N3 Young Nz old
Nz Young
N young N old
t I t z t 3 t 4
Recap
Endowment
0
Pattern y
consumption c t cz.tt
Pattern
Examine two Solutions
Central planner has complete knowledge and total control over the
economy.
Planner’s job: allocate available goods among young and old in each
period t.
At any given point in time the planner cannot allocate more goods to
the current young and old than are available in the economy.
N · c1,t + N · c2,t ≤ N · y
or
c1,t + c2,t ≤ y
which is the per capita feasibility constraint.
c1 + c2 ≤ y
slope I
do
OF
boundary set
set
line feasible
Y feasible
set
i
I
ferdofffft
y
Golden Rule Allocation (GRA)
CLA
B D
it 3
at 9
What about the initial old?
The GRA maximizes the utility of future generations but it does not
maximize the utility of the initial old.
The initial old only care about the consumption in the only period
they are around t = 1, which is the second period of life.
So an allocation that maximizes the initial old welfare would call for
highest possible c2 .
But infinite number of future generations and only one initial old
generation.
ECON3440C - Adamopoulos Monetary Economics, Lecture 2 2021 14 / 46
3. Recap
c1 + c2 ≤ y
N3 Young Nz old
Nz Young
N young N old
t I t z t 3 t 4
4. Overlapping Generations Model:
Decentralized Solutions
Implementing the GRA requires the planner taking away c2∗ from
every young individual and giving it to every old individual.
Individuals are price-takers, i.e., they act as if they cannot affect rates
of exchange.
Markets clear, i.e., prices adjust to equate supply and demand in all
markets.
No!
Who are the people around that a young person at time t can
potentially trade with?
I Other young people of the same generation t.
I Old people of previous generation t − 1.
But trade with other young would not be beneficial because they are
all trying to get goods for next period.
Trade with the current old will also not be beneficial because the old
want the good of the young but they do not have goods tomorrow,
which is what the young are looking for.
The only people who have what the current young are looking for
(goods in t + 1) are the young of generation t + 1, i.e., the next
generation.
... but the next generation young have no interest in trading with the
current young of generation t because they are not alive yet in t.
Initial old are also worse off, because with the GRA they get positive
consumption, while here nothing.
“valued” = fiat money can traded for some of the consumption good,
i.e., people are willing to give up some of the consumption good in
exchange for money.
A young person can sell some of his endowment to the old in exchange for
money, carry the money over to the next period, and use it to buy goods
from the young next period.
Since fiat money is intrinsically useless its value depends on the view
of its future value.
If people believe that fiat money will not be valued next period then it
will not be valued today.
Similarly, fiat money will have no value today if it is known that it will
be valueless in some future period T .
Consider the equilibrium where fiat money has a positive value in all
future periods.
In the first period, the individual with y goods (endowment) has two
options:
1 consume goods
2 sell them for money
pt · c1,t + mt ≤ pt · y
When old you can acquire goods for consumption only through
spending money acquired when young.
The dollar value of what you consume cannot exceed the money you
have.
pt+1 · c2,t+1 ≤ mt
Substitute the second period constraint into the first period constraint for
mt ,
vt
c1,t + · c2,t+1 ≤ y
vt+1
vt+1
vt = (gross) real rate of return to money: how many goods can be
obtained in period t + 1 if one unit of the good is sold for money in
period t.
s.t.
vt
c1,t + · c2,t+1 ≤ y
vt+1
d Cz
ii