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Joined at the hip: monetary and fiscal policy in a liquidity-dependent world
Because money is the unit of account, the price of money is the inverse of the price level. If prices are sticky, so is the price of money in terms of goods, and this is one important reason why money is liquid and attractive. By contrast, the price of government bonds is free to jump and often does, especially in response to news about changes in fiscal policy and the supply of bonds. Those movements in government bond prices affect available liquidity, and that matters for aggregate demand, inflation and output. In particular, we show that under these conditions, certain bond-financed fiscal expansions can be contractionary, causing deflation and a temporary recession. To avoid such effects, changes in fiscal policy and bond supply must be matched by changes in money supply and in the interest rate on money. We conclude that in a liquidity-dependent world, fiscal and monetary policies are joined at the hip.