International Seigniorage Payments

Abstract

What are the "liquidity services" provided by ìover-pricedî assets? How do international seigniorage payments affect the choice of monetary policies? Does a country gain when other hold its ìover-pricedî assets? These questions are analyzed here in a model in which demand uncertainty (taste shocks) and sequential trade are key. It is shown that a country with a relatively stable demand may issue "over priced" debt and get seigniorage payments from countries with unstable demand. But this does not necessarily improve welfare in the stable demand country.