Chapter 24 Money, Price level, Inflation Flashcards
(47 cards)
Means of payment
Is a method of settling a debt.
Money
Any commodity or token that is generally acceptable as a means of payment.
Money has three other functions:
- Medium of exchange
- Unit of account
- Store of value.
Medium of Exchange
Object that is generally accepted in exchange for goods and services.
Barter:
In absence of money, people would need to exchange goods and services directly. However, barter requires a double coincidence of wants, which is rare, so barter is costly.
Unit of Account
Is an agreed measure for stating the prices of goods and services.
Store of Value
money can be held for a time and later exchanged for goods and services.
Money in Canada consists of:
- Currency
- Deposits at banks and other depository institutions.
Currency:
Notes and coins held by individuals and businesses.
Official Measures of Money
M1 and M2
M1
Consists of currency held by individuals and businesses plus checkable deposits owned by individuals and businesses.
M2
Consists of M1 plus all other deposits, non chequable deposits and fixed term deposits.
Are M1 and M2 Really money?
All items in M1 are means of payment. They are money. Some savings deposits in M2 are not means of payments. They are called liquid assets.
Liquidity
The property of being instantly convertible into a means of payment with little loss of value.
Deposits are money, but cheques are not. Cheques are instructions to a bank to transfer money.
Credit cares are not money either. Credit care enables the holder to obtain a loan, but it must be repaid with money.
The banking System
The banking system consists of private and public institutions that create money and managed the nations monetary and payments system.
We divide these institutions into two parts:
-Depository institutions
-Bank of Canada.
Depository institution
A firm that takes deposits from households and firms and makes loan to other household and firms.
Deposits at three institutions make up the nation’s money:
Chartered banks
Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires
Trust and Mortgage loan companies.
Chartered Banks
Private firm, chartered under the Bank Act of 1992 to receive deposits and make loans.
Credit Unions and caisses Populaires
Credit union is a cooperative that operates under the cooperative Credit Association Act of 1992 and that receives deposits from and makes loans to its members.
Depository Institutions, What do they do
The goal of any bank is to maximize wealth of its owners. To achieve this objective, the interest rate at which it lends exceeds the interest rate it pays on deposits.
But the banks must balance profit and prudence:
Loans generate profit
Depositors must be able to obtain their funds when they want them.
A chartered bank puts the depositor’s funds into four types of assets:
- Reserves: notes and coins in its vault or its deposit at the Bank of Canada.
- Liquid Assets: Canadian government Treasury bills and commercial bills.
- Securities: longer term Canadian government bonds and other bonds such as mortgage backed securities
- Loans: commitments of fixed amounts of money for agreed upon periods of time.
Economic Benefits Provided by Depository Institutions
Depository Institutions make a profit from the spread between the interest rate they pay on their deposits and the interest rate they charge on their loans.
Four benefits that depository institutions provide:
- Create Liquidity
- Pool risk
- Lower the cost of borrowing
- Lower the cost of monitoring borrowers.
The Bank of Canada.
Definition: Central Bank
Is the central bank of Canada. Central bank is the public authority that regulates a nation's depository institutions and control the quantity of money. The Bank of Canada is: -Banker to the banks and government -Lender of last resort -Sole issuer of bank notes
Banker to Banks and Governements
The Bank of Canada accepts deposits from depository institutions that make up the payments system and the government of Canada.