We use an agent-based computational approach to show how in
ation can
worsen macroeconomic performance by disrupting the mechanism of exchange in a
decentralized market economy. We find that, in our model economy, increasing the
trend rate of in
ation above 3 percent has a substantial deleterious effect, but lowering
it below 3 percent has no significant macroeconomic consequences. Our finding remains
qualitatively robust to changes in parameter values and to modifications to our model
that partly address the Lucas critique. Finally, we contribute a novel explanation for
why cross-country regressions may fail to detect a significant negative effect of trend
in
ation on output even when such an effect exists in reality.