The role for openness in the demand for money: Evidence from Barbados

Abstract

This paper uses an optimizing theoretical framework for modelling openness in the demand for money function for a small, open, developing economy; in so doing, it subsumes the ad hoc specifications of three previous studies. Its findings confirm the importance of a measure of openness in the money demand specification for Barbados. More specifically, it appears that transactions associated with the traded sector of the economy exhibit greater elasticity of money demand than those associated with the nontraded sector.