Abstract:
To explore the effects of rational expectations as well as economic shocks on the demand for money in Thailand. The study also aims to observe how a representative economic agent changes his behavior in holding money, and to suggest its policy implications for monetary authority on the monetary target in order to obtain a sustainable economic growth. This study uses the econometric technique of Nonlinear Least Square (NLS) to analyze the behavior of two definitions of money supply holdings : broad and narrow monies, i.e. M1 and M2. The data set has its range from 1980:M1 to 1996:M2. Moreover, this study also uses the stability test on the demand for money functions before and after the financial liberalization. Concerning M1, the findings have shown that anticipated prices and anticipated incomes significantly determine demand for money because of the transaction motive. The magnitude of the anticipated price is proved to be higher than the anticipated income in explaining the demand for M1. Unlike M1, the unanticipated price solely determines the demand for M2. Comparing M1 and M2, the speed adjustment from disequilibrium to equilibrium of the demand for M1 is slower than the demand for M2 whereas the discounted rate involving demand for M1 is higher than demand for M2. This implies that the economic agent is more sensitive to speculative motive than transaction motive. Since March 1990, the monetary authority has implemented the financial liberalization plan. The study has shown at the economic behaviors explaining the demand for M1 remains unchanged regardless the implementation of financial liberalization. It can then be concluded that demand for M1 is statistically stable. On the contrary, the demand for M2 is not statistically stable due to the changes in the rate of return in the Thai stock market. Because foreign investors cause the fluctuation of capital inflows and outflows after the financial liberalization. The suggestion from this study to the monetary authority is to reduce government intervention policies in particular those policies affecting prices, interest rates and rates of return in the capital market. However, the effectiveness of the monetary policy definitely depend on the behavior of the economic agent's demand for money.