The Cost Channel of Monetary Transmission and Stabilization Policy in a Post-Keynesian Macrodynamic Model

Abstract

This paper develops a macrodynamic model that takes into account the potentially inflationary consequences of interest rate manipulations through the cost channel of monetary transmission. Evaluations of the macroeconomic implications of the cost channel are common in the mainstream literature. But this literature uses supply-determined macro models and provides standard optimizing microfoundations for the various ways in which the interest rate can affect mark-ups, prices and ultimately the form of the Phillips curve. Our purpose is to study the implications of different Phillips curves, each embodying the cost channel and derived from Post-Keynesian, cost-based-pricing microfoundations, in a monetary-production economy. We focus on the impact of these Phillips curves on macroeconomic stability and the consequent efficacy of stabilization policy. Ultimately, our results suggest that the presence of the cost channel is less significant for stabilization policy than the general orientation of the policy regime. These results corroborate earlier findings that, in a monetary-production economy, more orthodox policy regimes are inimical to macro stabilization.