Week 3: The Short Run [Monetary policy, IS-LM, Extensions] Flashcards
Asset and Financial Asset
Asset- generates a stream , of benefits for its owner, Examples encountered: a factory, a piece of software, a house
Financial asset- generates a stream, of benefits from somebody’s debt
Financial asset/liability- example before
Bank: assets, liabilities and net worth
Customer: assets, liabilities and net worth
Financial asset/liability - example, after
Bank: loan + assets, money deposited + liabilities and net worth
Customer: Money deposited + assets, loans + liabilities and net worth
Money as a financial asset
Money emerges as both an asset and liability
- most liquid financial asset (easiest to exchange for goods and services)
Monetary system and monetary policy exist and operate within a financial market.
*making a financial asset is impossible without creating a financial liability
Lending as a way of money creation
- approving the loan itself created purchasing power without involving any ‘physical’ money (currency
Monetary system - players
Central bank (CB, monetary authority) - an authority tasked with the conduct of monetary policy
- Bank of England in the UK, European Central Bank in EU, Federal Reserve System in the US, the source of CBs power (monopoly control over ‘high-power/base money’)
- Monetary financial institutions (MFIs): credit unions, commercial banks, funds
-Consumers (households and firms)
Monetary system - aggregate balance sheets
Central Bank: Non-money assets, currency + reserves (BASE MONEY)
Banks: non-money + currency + reserves + loans, non-money + deposits
H/hs and Firms: Currency + Deposits (BROAD MONEY), Non-money liabilities and net worth.
+ : they are part of the same column, different categories
And: implies they are in the same group/column
Base Money
- money issued by the CB, formed by currency and reserves
- created directly and solely by the CB, and so it plays a crucial role in the conduct of monetary policies
- Reserves are interest-bearing deposits for banks to settle transactions (not hoard cash)
- Just like with other deposits, they are created by lending (from the CB to banks) or by depositing funds (from banks to the CB)
What makes the CB so central?
- the CB is the sole supplier of reserves and currency
- the power of base money lies in the willingness to accept and use it
- apart from this, money is not backed by any commodity
Commercial banks
- in monetary systems, money is NOT created through multiplying ‘CB money’ in rounds of lending and borrowing
- base money expands into broad money directly through lending and creation of deposits by commercial banks
Money creation by commercial banks
Some countries impose a floor on the reserve ratio (the ratio of reserves to deposits)
Economic limits:
- forces of competition (competing for borrowers drives rates down)
- risk management (offering more loans will start attracting more risky customers)
Monetary policy - ingredients
- Ultimate aim - macroeconomic stability (through controlling inflation )
- Instrument - interest rate
- Transmission mechanism - in a moment
Instrument - interest rate
BoE (Bank of England) base rate - the interest rate for BoE reserves
- its the cost of borrowing from and lending to the BoE
- it sets the terms of accessing the BoEs finds
- Common generic names for analogues of the BoE rate are the base rate, the CB’s interest rate, the key rate, the policy rate
Policy transmission mechanism
- suppose interest rate drops for i1 to i2, only banks have access to to reserves, transmission proceeds through the banking system
Adjustment of lending rates: What if, say, Bank 1 tries to go below i2 and charges i low?
Bank 2 can profitably become Bank 1s borrower by taking all Bank 1a funds available and lending them to the CB
Bank 1s funds would end up converted into Bank 2s reserves with Bank 2 earning the difference (spread) between the rates i2-i low
The situation of making profit by just buying for less and selling it for me is called arbitrage, and its prevents too low rates from appearing in the market
Adjustment of lending rates - the gist and the bottom line
Storing funds with the BoE is less profitable, and banks seek to lend more
Banks compete with each other, and this brings rates down
Rates cannot fall below the BoE rate owing to arbitrage
BoE rate = i2 ->=<- bank 1 rate <- bank 2 rate
Arbitrage ——> <——- Competition
——-0——————————————————-i—->
Adjustment of saving rates
- BoE drops the rate to i2
- Now any amount of money can be borrowed by banks form it at i=i2
- Banks no longer accept deposits at i1, as they have the cheaper option
- Depositors either can get nothing at i1 or something at i2, and so they acquiesce
*By contract with lending rates, adjustment here occurs thanks to the CBs monopoly power