International Finance in General Equilibrium

51 Pages Posted: 25 Aug 2001

See all articles by John Geanakoplos

John Geanakoplos

Yale University; Santa Fe Institute

Dimitrios P. Tsomocos

University of Oxford - Said Business School and St. Edmund Hall

Date Written: July 2001

Abstract

Our purpose in this paper is to unify international trade and finance in a single general equilibrium model. Our model is rich enough to include multiple commodities (including traded and nontraded goods), heterogeneous consumers in each country, multiple time periods, multiple credit markets, and multiple currencies. Yet our model is simple enough to be effectively computable. We explicitly calculate the financial and real effects of changes in tariffs, productivity, and preferences, as well as the effects of monetary and fiscal policy. We maintain agent optimization, rational expectations, and market clearing (i.e., perfect competition with flexible prices) throughout. But because of the important role money plays, and because of the heterogeneity of markets and agents, we find that fiscal and monetary policy both have real effects. The effects of policy on real income, long-term interest rates, and exchange rates are qualitatively identical to those suggested in Mundell--Fleming (without the small country hypothesis), although our equilibrating mechanisms are different. However, because the Mundell-Fleming model ignores expectations and relative price changes, our model predicts different effects on the flow of capital, the balance of trade, and real exchange rates in some circumstances.

Keywords: Currency, Cash, Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy, Money, Trade

JEL Classification: E5, E6, F1, F2, F3

Suggested Citation

Geanakoplos, John D and Tsomocos, Dimitrios P., International Finance in General Equilibrium (July 2001). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=279377

John D Geanakoplos (Contact Author)

Yale University ( email )

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203-432-3397 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://https://economics.yale.edu/people/faculty/john-geanakoplos

Santa Fe Institute ( email )

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Santa Fe, NM 87501
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Dimitrios P. Tsomocos

University of Oxford - Said Business School and St. Edmund Hall ( email )

Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 1HP
Great Britain
+44 1865 288 932 (Phone)
+44 1865 288 805 (Fax)

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