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Chapter 29: The Monetary System

• Barter: the exchange of one good or service for another to obtain the things they need

• Double coincidence of wants: the unlikely occurrence that two people each have a good or service that the other wants

• The existence of money makes trade easier

Chapter 29.1: The Meaning of Money

• Money: the set of assets in an economy that people regularly use to buy goods and services from other people

• Money is related to wealth

• 29.1a: The Functions of Money

  • Money serves as a 

    • Medium of exchange: an item that buyers give to sellers when they want to purchase goods and services

    • Unit of account: the yardstick people use to post prices and record debts

    • Store of value: an item that people can use to transfer purchasing power from the present to the future

  • Liquidity: the ease with which an asset can be converted into the economy’s medium of exchange

    • Since money is the designated medium of exchange, it is the most liquid

    • When allocating wealth, the liquidity of each asset has to be balanced

• 29.1b: The Kinds of Money

  • Commodity money: money that takes the form of a commodity with intrinsic value

  • Intrinsic value means an item would have value even if it were not used as money

    • Ex: Gold, because it is used in the industry. When an economy uses gold as money, it operates under a gold standard

  • Fiat money: money without intrinsic value that is used as money by government decree

    • Ex: The US dollar

• 29.1c: Money in the US Economy

  • Money stock: the quantity of money circulating in the economy

  • Currency: the paper bills and coins in the hands of the public

  • Demand deposits: balances in bank accounts that depositors can access on demand by writing a check

Chapter 29.2: The Federal Reserve System

• Federal Reserve (Fed): the central bank of the United States

• Central bank: an institution designed to oversee the banking system and regulate the quantity of money in the economy

• 29.2a: The Fed’s Organization

  • Lender of last resort: a lender to those who cannot borrow anywhere else. This is in reference to the Fed

  • Money supply: the quantity of money available in the economy

  • Monetary policy: the setting of the money supply by policymakers in the central bank

• 29.2b: The Federal Open Market Committee

  • The Federal Open Market Committee makes decisions. Through this, the Fed has the power to increase or decrease the number of dollars in the economy

  • Open-market operation: the purchase and sale of US government bonds. This is the Fed’s primary tool to change the money apply

  • Prices rise when the government prints too much money. The Fed determines the inflation in the long run

Chapter 29.3: Banks and the Money Supply

• 29.3a: THe Simple Case of 100-Percent-Reserve Banking

  • Reserves: deposits that banks have received but have not loaned out

  • A 100-percent-reserve-banking is an imaginary economy where all deposits are held as reserves

  • A balance sheet is an accounting statement where the assets and liabilities are equivalent

  • If banks hold all deposits in reserve, banks do not influence the supply of money

• 29.3b: Money Creation with Fractional-Reserve Banking

  • Fractional-reserve banking: a banking system in which banks hold only a fraction of deposits as reserves

  • Reserve ratio: the fraction of deposits that banks hold as reserves

  • The Fed sets a minimum amount of reserves that banks must hold. This is called a reserve requirement

  • Banks can hold above the reserve requirement, called a excess reserves

  • When banks hold only a fraction of deposits in reserve, the banking system creates money

• 29.3c: The Money Multiplier    

  • Money multiplier: the amount of money the banking system generates with each dollar of reserves

  • The money multiplier is the reciprocal of the reserve ratio

  • The higher the reserve ratio, the less of each deposit banks loan out, and the smaller the money multiplier

• 29.3d: Bank Capital, Leverage, and the Financial Crisis of 2008-2009

  • Bank capital: the resources a bank’s owners have put into the institution

  • Leverage: the use of borrowed money to supplement existing funds for purposes of investment

  • Leverage ratio: the ratio of assets to bank capital

  • A bank is insolvent when it is unable to pay of its debt in full, since its assets fell below its liabilities

  • Capital requirement: a government regulation specifying a minimum amount of bank capital

  • A credit crunch is a shortage of capital which induces banks to reduce lending

• 29.4: The Fed’s Tools of Monetary Control    

  • 29.4a: How the Fed Influences the Quantity of Reserves

    • Open-Market Operations: the purchase and sale of US government bonds by the Fed.

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