Money and Banking System2. What is Money?
―Money is whatever is generally accepted in
exchange for goods and services — accepted not as
an object to be consumed but as an object that
represents a temporary abode of purchasing power
to be used for buying still other goods and services.‖
— Milton Friedman (1992)
• A medium of exchange:
an asset used to buy and sell goods and services.
• A store of value:
an asset that allows people to transfer purchasing
power from one period to another.
• A unit of account:
a unit of measurement used by people to post prices
and keep track of revenues and costs.
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3. • The main thing that makes money valuable
is the same thing that generates value for other
commodities:
• The demand (for money) relative to its supply.
• People demand money because it reduces
the cost of exchange.
• If the purchasing power of money is to remain stable
over time, its supply must be limited. When the
supply of money grows rapidly relative to goods and
services, its purchasing power will fall.
Why is Money Valuable?
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4. How the Money Supply is Measured
• Two basic measurements of the money supply
are M1 and M2.
• The components of M1 are:
• Currency,
• Checking deposits, and,(including demand
deposits and interest-earning checking deposits)
• Traveler's checks.
• M2 (a broader measure of money) includes:
• M1,
• savings,
• time deposits, and,
• money market mutual funds.
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5. The Composition of Money in the U.S.
• The size and composition of the two most widely used
measures of U.S. money supply (M1 & M2) are shown above.
Money Supply, M1 (in billions)
Currency (in circulation)
Demand deposits
Other checkable deposits
Traveler’s checks
Total M1
$850
407
334
5
$1,596
Money Supply, M2 (in billions)
M1
Savings deposits a
Small time deposits
Money market mutual funds
Total M2
$1,596
4,445
1,308
979
$8,328
$1,596
$8,328
The M1 and M2 Money Supply of the U.S
–––––––––– (as of May 2009) ––––––––––
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6. Credit Cards versus Money
• Money is an asset.
• The use of a credit card is merely a
convenient way to arrange for a loan.
• Credit card balances are a liability.
• Thus, credit card purchases are not money.
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7. • The banking industry includes:
• commercial banks,
• savings and loans, and,
• credit unions.
The Business of Banking
• Banks are profit-seeking institutions:
• Banks accept deposits and use part of them to
extend loans and make investments. Income from
these activities is their major source of revenue.
• Banks play a central role in the capital market
(loan able funds market):
• They help to bring together people who want to
save for the future with those who want to
borrow for current investment projects.
8. The Functions of
Commercial Banking Institutions
Assets
Vault cash
Reserves at the Fed
Loans outstanding
U.S. government securities
Other securities
Other assets
Total
Checking deposits
Savings and time deposits
Borrowings
Other liabilities
Net worth
Consolidated Balance Sheet of Commercial Banking Institutions
April 2009 (billions of $)
Liabilities
$ 40
672
7,051
1,265
1,412
1,630
$ 12,070
$ 600
6,851
2,400
928
1,291
$ 12,070
• Banks provide services and pay interest to attract checking,
savings, and time deposits (liabilities).
• Most of these deposits are invested and loaned out, providing
interest income for the bank.
• Banks hold a portion of their assets as reserves (either as cash or
deposits with the Fed) to meet their daily obligations toward their
depositors. © iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved
9. • The U.S. banking system is a fractional reserve system;
banks are required to maintain only a fraction of their
assets as reserves against the deposits of their
customers (required reserves).
• Vault cash and deposits held with the
Federal Reserve count as reserves.
• Excess reserves (actual reserves in excess of the legal
requirement) can be used to extend new loans and
make new investments.
• Under a fractional reserve system, an increase in
deposits will provide the bank with excess reserves and
place it in a position to extend additional loans, and
thereby expand the money supply.
Fractional Reserve Banking
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10. Bank
New cash
deposits:
Actual Reserves
New
Required Reserves
Potential demand
deposits created by
extending new loans
Initial deposit (bank A)
Second stage (bank B)
Third stage (bank C)
Fourth stage (bank D)
Fifth stage (bank E)
Sixth stage (bank F)
Seventh stage (bank G)
$1,000.00 $200.00
160.00
102.40
81.92
65.54
52.43
800.00
$800.00
512.00
128.00640.00
640.00
512.00
409.60
409.60
327.68
327.68
262.14
262.14
209.71
Total $5,000.00 $1,000.00 $4,000.00
All others (other banks) 1,048.58 209.71 838.87
Creating Money from New Reserves
• When banks are required to maintain 20% reserves against
demand deposits, the creation of $1,000 of new reserves will
potentially increase the supply of money by $5,000.
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11. How Banks Create Money
by Extending Loans
• The lower the percentage of the reserve requirement,
the greater the potential expansion in the money
supply resulting from the creation of new reserves.
• The fractional reserve requirement places a ceiling on
potential money creation from new reserves.
• The actual deposit multiplier will be less than the
potential because:
• Some persons will hold currency rather than bank
deposits, and,
• Some banks may not use all their excess reserves to
extend loans.
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12. The Federal Reserve
• The Federal Reserve (the Fed), created in 1913, is
the central bank for the United States.
• The Federal Reserve is responsible for the creation
of a stable monetary climate for the entire U.S.
economy.
• It controls the money supply of the U.S.,
• serves as a ―banker’s bank‖ or ―bank of
last resort‖ for U.S. banks, and,
• regulates the banking sector.
• In short, the Federal Reserve is responsible for the
conduct of U.S. monetary policy.
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13. The Public:
Households & businesses
Commercial Banks
Savings & Loans
Credit Unions
Mutual Savings Banks
The Federal Reserve System
• The Board of Governors
is at the center of Federal
Reserve operations.
• The board sets all the
rates and regulations for
the expository institutions.
• The seven members of the
Board of Governors also
serve on the Federal Open
Market Committee FOMC).
• The FOMC is a 12-member
board that establishes Fed
policy regarding the buying
and selling of government
securities.
Federal Reserve
Board of Governors
7 members appointed by the president,
with the consent of the U.S. Senate
12 Federal Reserve
District Banks
(25 branches)
Open Market
Committee
Board of Governors &
5 Federal Reserve
Bank Presidents
(alternating
terms, New York Bank
always represented).
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14. Philadelphia3
San
Francisco
12
1 Boston
4
Cleveland9
Minneapolis
11
Dallas
Washington, D.C.
(Board of Governors)10
Kansas City
7
Chicago
5 Richmond
2 New York
Atlanta6
St. Louis
8
The Federal Reserve Districts
• The map indicates the 12 Federal Reserve districts and the
cities in which the district banks are located.
• Each district bank monitors the commercial banks in their
region and assists them with the clearing of checks.
• The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is
located in Washington D.C.
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15. The Independence of the Fed
• The independence of the Federal Reserve system
is designed to strengthen the ability of the Fed to
pursue monetary policy in a stabilizing manner.
• Fed independence stems from:
• The lengthy terms of the members of the Board of
Governors (14 years), and,
• The fact that the Fed’s revenues are derived from
interest on the bonds that it holds rather than
allocations from Congress.
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16. The Four Tools the Fed Uses
to Control the Money Supply
• The Fed has four major tools that it can use to control
the money supply:
• Reserve requirements
• Setting the fraction of assets that banks must hold
as reserves (vault cash or deposits with the Fed),
against their checking deposits.
• Open market operations
• The buying and selling of U.S. government securities
and other assets in the open market.
• Extension of Loans
• Control of the volume of loans to banks and other
financial institutions.
• Interest paid on bank reserves
• Setting the interest rate paid banks on reserves held
at the fed.
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17. • Reserve requirements:
a fraction of checking deposits banks must hold as
reserves (vault cash and deposits with the Fed) against
these liabilities
• When the Fed lowers the required reserve ratio, it creates
excess reserves for commercial banks allowing them to
extend additional loans, expanding the money supply.
• Raising the reserve requirements has the opposite effect.
• Open Market Operations:
the buying and selling of U.S. Treasury bonds and other
financial assets by the Fed
• This is the primary tool used by the Federal Reserve to control
the money supply.
• Note: the U.S. Treasury bonds held by the Fed are part of the
national debt.
• When the Fed buys bonds …
the money supply expands because:
• bond sellers acquire money
• bank reserves increase, placing banks
in a position to expand the money supply through the
extension of additional loans
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18. • When the Fed sells bonds …
the money supply contracts because:
• bond buyers exchange money for bonds
• bank reserves decline, causing them to extend fewer loans
Extension of Loans by the Fed
• Historically, member banks have borrowed from the
Fed primarily to meet temporary shortages of reserves.
• The discount rate is the interest rate the Fed charges
banks for short-term loans needed to meet reserve
requirements.
• Other things constant, an increase in the discount rate
will reduce borrowing from the Fed and thereby exert a
restrictive impact on the money supply. Conversely, a
lower discount rate will make it cheaper for banks to
borrow from the Fed and exert an expansionary impact
on the supply of money.
19. • Discount Rate and Federal Funds Rate
• The discount rate is closely related to the interest rate in
the federal funds market, a private loanable funds market
where banks with excess reserves extend short-term loans
to other banks trying to meet their reserve requirements.
• The interest rate in this market is called the federal funds
rate.
Controlling the Federal Funds Rate
• Announcements after the regular meetings of the Federal
Open Market Committee often focus on the Fed’s target for
the fed funds rate.
• The Fed controls the federal funds rate through open
market operations.
• The Fed can reduce the fed funds rate by buying bonds, which
will inject additional reserves into the banking system.
• The Fed can increase the fed funds rate by selling bonds,
which drains reserves from
the banking system.
• While the media often focuses on the Fed’s target fed funds
rate, open market operations are used to control this
interest rate.
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20. Longer-Term Loans Extended by the Fed
• Prior to 2008, the Fed extended only short-term discount
rate loans, and they were extended only to member banks.
• In 2008, the Fed established several new procedures for
the extension of credit and began extending longer-term
loans, including some to non-banking institutions.
• The most important of these was the Term Auction
Facility (TAF) which created an auction procedure
through which depository institutions bid for credit
provided by the Fed for an 84 day period.
• In 2008, the Fed also began making loans to non-bank
financial institutions such as insurance companies and
brokerage firms and these loans have often been for
lengthy time periods (5-10 years).
• Like the discount rate loans, these new types of loans
inject additional reserves into the banking system and
thereby exert an expansionary impact on the money
supply.
21. Interest Rate Fed Pays on Reserves
• If the Fed wants banks to extend more loans and thereby
expand the money supply, it will set the interest rate it
pays on excess reserves very low, possibly even zero.
• In contrast, if the Fed wants to reduce the money supply,
it will increase the interest rate paid banks on excess
reserves. This will provide them with an incentive to
hold more reserves, which will reduce the money supply.
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22. Federal Reserve
Policy
Expansionary Monetary Policy Restrictive Monetary Policy
1. Reserve
Requirements
Reduce reserve requirements
because this will create additional
excess reserves and induce banks
to extend more loans, which will
expand the money supply.
Raise reserve requirements
because this will reduce the
excess reserves of banks and
induce them to make fewer
loans, which will contract the
money supply.
2. Open Market
Operations
Purchase additional U.S. Securities
and other assets, which will
increase the money supply and
also expand the reserves available
to banks.
Sell U.S. securities and other
assets, which will decrease the
money supply and also contract
the reserves available to banks.
3. Extension of
Loans
Extend more loans because this
will increase bank reserves,
encouraging banks to make more
loans and expand the money
supply.
Extend fewer loans because this
will decrease bank reserves,
discourage bank loans, and
reduce the money supply.
4. Interest Paid on
Excess Bank
Reserves
Reduce the interest paid on excess
reserves because this will induce
banks to hold less reserves and
extend more loans, which will
expand the money supply.
Increase the interest paid on
excess reserves because this will
induce banks to hold more
reserves and extend fewer loans,
which will contract the money
supply.
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23. Recent Fed Policy, the Monetary Base, and the
Money Supply
• Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, the Fed controlled the
money supply almost exclusively through open market
operations – the buying and selling of Treasury Securities.
• During 2008, the Fed reduced its holding of Treasury
Securities (see table below, line 1), but vastly expanded its
purchase of corporate bonds, mortgage backed securities,
and commercial paper issued by private businesses (see
table below, line 2).
• Moreover, there was a huge increase in Fed loans to non-
banking institutions such as brokerage firms and insurance
companies (see table below, line 5 on ―Loans to Other
Institutions‖).
• As the table below shows, Fed assets ballooned from $940
billion in July 2008 to $2,299 billion in December 2008.
• This vast increase in the purchase of assets and extension of
loans by the Fed led to a sharp increase in bank reserves and
the monetary base.
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24. The Monetary Base
• The monetary base is equal to the currency in
circulation plus the reserves of commercial banks
(vault cash and reserves held at the Fed).
• The monetary base is important because it
provides the foundation for the money supply.
• The currency in circulation contributes directly to
the money supply, while the bank reserves
provide the underpinnings for checking deposits.
• The expansion in Fed purchases and extension of
loans caused the monetary base to approximately
double during the 9 months following August
2008.
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25. Monetary Base, M1, and Excess Reserves, 1990-2009
• Prior to mid-year 2008, the monetary base grew gradually
year-after-year and excess reserves were negligible.
• Under these conditions, the monetary base and M1 money
supply moved together.
• In the second half of 2008, the Fed injected a massive
amount of reserves into the banking system and both the
monetary base and excess reserves soared.
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26. Why Aren’t the Banks Using Excess
Reserves to Make Loans?
• Because of the weak economy, the demand for loans that
are highly likely to be repaid is weak.
• The Fed has pushed the interest rate on Treasury bills and
other short-term loans to near zero.
• There is considerable uncertainty about the future and
therefore banks are reluctant to make long-term
commitments.
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27. • The Federal Reserve:
• is concerned with the monetary climate of the
economy
• does not issue bonds
• is responsible for the control of the money supply
and the conduct of monetary policy
The Functions
of the Fed and Treasury
• The U.S. Treasury:
• is concerned with the finance of the federal
expenditures
• issues bonds to the general public to finance the
budget deficits of the federal government
• does not determine the money supply
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28. The Changing Nature of Money
• In the past, economists have often used the growth rate of
the money supply to gauge the direction of monetary
policy.
• Rapid growth was indicative of expansionary monetary policy,
while,
• slow growth (or a contraction in the money supply) was
indicative of restrictive policy.
• Recent financial innovations and structural changes have
changed the nature of money and reduced the reliability of
money growth figures as an indicator of monetary policy.
• The introduction of interest earning checking accounts in
the early 1980s reduced the opportunity cost of holding
checking deposits and thereby changed the nature of the
M1 money supply.
• In the 1990s, many depositors shifted funds from interest
earning checking accounts to money market mutual funds.
Because money market mutual funds are not included in
M1 this also reduced the comparability of the M1 figures
across time periods.
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29. Currency
Interest-earning
checkable deposits
The Changing Nature of M1
• In the 1980s, deregulation lead to a rapid growth of interest-
earning checking deposits (that now make up approximately one
quarter of the M1 money supply).
• As the opportunity cost of holding these checkable deposits is
less than for other forms of money, today’s money supply figures
are not exactly comparable with the pre-1980 figures.
Billions of $
Total
$1,596
150
300
450
600
750
900
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
$855
$334
$407
Demand
deposits
M1
2010
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30. Three Factors that have
Changed the Nature of Money
• In addition, three other factors are altering the
nature of money and reducing the value of the
money growth figures as an indicator of monetary
policy:
• Widespread use of the dollar abroad:
At least one-half and perhaps as much as two-thirds
of U.S. dollar currency is held abroad, and these
holdings appear to be increasing. These dollars are
included in the M1 money supply even though they
are not circulating in the U.S..
• Increasing availability of low-fee stock
and bond mutual funds:
Because stock and bond mutual funds are not
included in any of the money aggregates, movement
of funds from various M1 and M2 components into
these mutual funds distorts both the M1 and M2
figures. © iTutor. 2000-2013. All Rights Reserved
31. • Debit cards and electronic money:
Increased use of debit cards and various forms of
electronic money will reduce the demand for currency.
Like other changes in the nature of money, these
innovations will reduce the reliability of the money
supply figures as an indicator of monetary policy.
• Innovations and dynamic changes have altered the
nature of money. Economists now place less emphasis
on the growth rate of the money supply figures as a
monetary policy indicator.
• Most economists now rely on a combination of factors
to evaluate the direction and appropriateness of
monetary policy.
• We will follow this procedure as we consider the
impact of monetary policy in subsequent chapters.
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