Households’ Liquidity Preference, Banks’ Capitalization and the Macroeconomy: A Theoretical Investigation

Abstract

In this paper we build a simple model on the role of households' liquidity preference in the determination of economic performance. We postulate, for the sake of the argument, a purely "horizontalist" environment, i.e., a world of endogenous money where the central bank is able to fix the interest rate(s) at a level of its own willing. We show that even in such a framework liquidity preference, while obviously not constituting anymore a theory for the determination of the interest rate, continues to be a key element for the determination of both the level and evolution over time of aggregate income and capital accumulation. In our model, this happens because of the working of a mechanism so far unexplored in the literature, i.e., the endogenous variations of banks' policy of profits' distribution in response to changes in the liquidity preference of the public.