RIEB, Kobe University

Monetary Policy, Incomplete Asset Markets, and Welfare in a Small Open Economy

We develop a small open economy model with capital, sticky prices, and a simple form offinancial frictions. We compare welfare levels under three alternative rules: a domestic inflation-based Taylor rule, a CPI inflation-based Taylor rule, and an exchange rate peg. We show that the superiority of an exchange rate peg over a domestic inflation-based Taylor rule becomes more pronounced under incomplete financial asset markets and more severe financial frictions.