Índices ponderados de agregados monetários para o Brasil

Abstract

The choice of an appropriate monetary aggregate is a major problem in monetary policy. The traditional aggregates, such as M1, M2 M3 and M4, have some shortcomings for they add together heterogeneous assets by way of a simple sum. Based on economic aggregation and the index numbers theory, Barnett (1980) proposed the Divisia index for the aggregation of the monetary services (moneyness) of the various assets. In the present study we calculate the Divisia index for the monetary aggregates M2 M3 and M4 in Brazil with monthly data in the period 1974/1991. The results show significant differences in the pattern of this index vis-à-vis the one obtained by using the simple sum of the assets.