Inflation Risk and Portfolio Allocation in the Banking System
This paper proposes theory and evidence on the relationship between in°ation and the bank's portfolio allocation. The proposed idea rationalized what Rodriguez (1992) pointed out with respect to the Central Bank of Argentina, behaving as a "borrower of ¯rst resort", where banks reallocated their investment from the private sector to government bonds. A main component of in°ation costs is the misallocation of resources, this paper shows a channel through the reallocation of credits, where the credit market for the private sector trend to disappear.