Integrating Monetary Theory and Mainstream Macroeconomics

长期以来，主流宏观经济学采用了一种可以被称为简化形式的货币方法，这意味着它做出了诸如“效用函数中的货币”或“预付现金”之类的假设，这些假设代表了一个更深入、更明确的模型。这样的捷径可能是有用的，但大多数学者认为，最好是把事情说清楚。与此同时，最近在为货币理论发展严肃的微观基础方面取得了相当大的成功。 然而，这项工作并没有对主流产生太大的影响：即使是那些可能为货币经济学建立更好的微观基础的努力鼓掌的人，最终也会放弃这种方法，因为它与他们所知道和做的太不一样了。目前的建议涉及一个正在进行的项目，试图缩小具有相对严重的微观基础的理论与主流宏观经济学之间的差距。现在可以分析一般模型，将标准的搜索理论货币模型和教科书宏观模型作为特例。仍需探讨这些综合模式的影响。很明显，它们将为货币和货币政策在经济中的作用产生新的有趣的见解，无论是理论上还是定量上。拟议的活动产生的更广泛的影响货币政策是现代经济中的一个大问题。政策制定者或他们的顾问不得不求助于一些理论和模型，这些理论和模型在解释或分析货币的作用方面并不认真，而且往往包含逻辑上不一致的假设。这是因为没有真实的替代方案--那些试图认真解释和分析货币作用并试图保持逻辑一致性的模型与现实（甚至与主流宏观经济理论）相距太远。拟议中的研究将缩小严肃理论与实际政策之间的差距。在不久的将来，也许我们会有更好的货币政策，因为我们对货币理论有了更好的理解，以及它如何更普遍地与宏观经济学相适应。

Mainstream macroeconomics has for a long time adopted what may be called a reduced-form approach to money, which means that it makes assumptions such as "money in the utility function'' or "cash in advance" that proxy for a deeper, more explicit, model. Such short cuts can be useful, but most scholars agree it is better to make things explicit. At the same time, there has been considerable success recently developing serious microfoundations for monetary theory. However, this work on has not had that much of an impact on the mainstream: even those who might applaud the efforts to build a better microfoundations for monetary economics end up dismissing the approach because it is just too distinct from what they know and do. The current proposal involves an ongoing project that attempts to reduce the gap between theories with relatively serious microfoundations and mainstream macroeconomics. It is now possible to analyze general models that capture the standard search-theoretic monetary model and textbook macro model as special cases. It remains to explore the implications of these integrated models. It seems clear they will generate new and interesting insights, both theoretical and quantitative, into the role of money and monetary policy in the economy.Broader impacts resulting from the proposed activityMonetary policy is a big concern in modern economies. Policy makers or their advisors are forced to appeal to theories and models that do not do a very serious job of explaining or analyzing the role of money in the first place, and that often contain logically inconsistent assumptions. This is because there are no real alternatives -- models that try to do a serious job of explaining and analyzing the role of money and that try to maintain logical consistency are too far removed from reality (and even from mainstream macroeconomic theory). The proposed research will reduce this gap between serious theories and practical policy. In the not too distant future, perhaps we will have better monetary policy because of a better understanding of monetary theory, and how it fits in with macroeconomics, more generally.