Revisiting the Optimal Inflation Rate with Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity: The Role of Heterogeneity

Abstract

In this paper, I study the optimal inflation rate in a sticky price economy in which workers are heterogeneous in labor productivity and wage changes are subject to asymmetric adjustment costs. The model calibrated to U.S. micro wage data implies downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR). The optimal inflation rate is substantially higher than stated in the literature in the presence of worker heterogeneity. A key to understanding the result is that DNWR causes an inefficient cross-sectional allocation of labor as well as inefficient aggregate dynamics, enlarging the "grease of the wheels" effect of inflation.