Money in the Utility Function: an Empirical Implementation

Abstract

This paper studies household asset demands by allowing certain assets to contribute directly to utility. It estimates the parameters of an aggregate utility function which includes both consumption and liquidity services.These liquidity services depend on the level of various asset stocks. We apply these estimates to investigate the long- and short-run interest elasticities of demand for money, time deposits, and Treasury bills. We also examine the impact of open market operations on interest rates, and present new estimates of the welfare cost of inflation.