N. Gregory Mankiw
Principles of
Macroeconomics
Sixth Edition
16
The Monetary System
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Ron Cronovich
In this chapter,
look for the answers to these questions:
• What assets are considered “money”? What are
the functions of money? The types of money?
• What is the Federal Reserve?
• What role do banks play in the monetary
system? How do banks “create money”?
• How does the Federal Reserve control the
money supply?
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permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
1
What Money Is and Why It’s Important
 Without money, trade would require barter,
the exchange of one good or service for another.
 Every transaction would require a double
coincidence of wants—the unlikely occurrence
that two people each have a good the other wants.
 Most people would have to spend time searching
for others to trade with—a huge waste of
resources.
 This searching is unnecessary with money,
the set of assets that people regularly use to buy
g&s from other people.
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2
The 3 Functions of Money
 Medium of exchange: an item buyers give to
sellers when they want to purchase g&s
 Unit of account: the yardstick people use to
post prices and record debts
 Store of value: an item people can use to
transfer purchasing power from the present to
the future
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3
The 2 Kinds of Money
Commodity money:
takes the form of a commodity
with intrinsic value
Examples: gold coins,
cigarettes in POW camps
Fiat money:
money without intrinsic value,
used as money because of
govt decree
Example: the U.S. dollar
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4
The Money Supply
 The money supply (or money stock):
the quantity of money available in the economy
 What assets should be considered part of the
money supply? Two candidates:
 Currency: the paper bills and coins in the
hands of the (non-bank) public
 Demand deposits: balances in bank accounts
that depositors can access on demand by
writing a check
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5
Measures of the U.S. Money Supply
 M1: currency, demand deposits,
traveler’s checks, and other checkable deposits.
M1 = $1.9 trillion (February 2011)
 M2: everything in M1 plus savings deposits,
small time deposits, money market mutual funds,
and a few minor categories.
M2 = $8.9 trillion (February 2011)
The distinction between M1 and M2
will often not matter when we talk about
“the money supply” in this course.
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6
Central Banks & Monetary Policy
 Central bank: an institution that oversees the
banking system and regulates the money supply
 Monetary policy: the setting of the money
supply by policymakers in the central bank
 Federal Reserve (Fed): the central bank of the
U.S.
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7
The Structure of the Fed
The Federal Reserve System
consists of:
 Board of Governors
(7 members),
located in Washington, DC
 12 regional Fed banks,
located around the U.S.
Ben S. Bernanke
Chair of FOMC,
Feb 2006 – present
 Federal Open Market
Committee (FOMC),
includes the Bd of Govs and
presidents of some of the regional Fed banks
The FOMC decides monetary policy.
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8
Clicker question
Ben Bernanke
A. Has a beard.
B. Is greying.
C. Is the Chairman of the Federal Open Market
Committee.
D. Is all of the above.
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9
Bank Reserves
 In a fractional reserve banking system,
banks keep a fraction of deposits as reserves
and use the rest to make loans.
 The Fed establishes reserve requirements,
regulations on the minimum amount of reserves
that banks must hold against deposits.
 Banks may hold more than this minimum amount
if they choose.
 The reserve ratio, R
= fraction of deposits that banks hold as reserves
= total reserves as a percentage of total deposits
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10
Bank T-Account
 T-account: a simplified accounting statement
that shows a bank’s assets & liabilities.
 Example:
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Liabilities
Reserves $ 10 Deposits
$100
Loans
$ 90
 Banks’ liabilities include deposits,
assets include loans & reserves.
 In this example, notice that R = $10/$100 = 10%.
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11
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
Suppose $100 of currency is in circulation.
To determine banks’ impact on money supply,
we calculate the money supply in 3 different cases:
1. No banking system
2. 100% reserve banking system:
banks hold 100% of deposits as reserves,
make no loans
3. Fractional reserve banking system
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12
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 1: No banking system
Public holds the $100 as currency.
Money supply = $100.
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13
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 2: 100% reserve banking system
Public deposits the $100 at First National Bank (FNB).
FNB holds
100% of
deposit
as reserves:
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Liabilities
Reserves $100 Deposits
$100
Loans
$
0
Money supply
= currency + deposits = $0 + $100 = $100
In a 100% reserve banking system,
banks do not affect size of money supply.
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14
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 3: Fractional reserve banking system
Suppose R = 10%. FNB loans all but 10%
of the deposit:
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Liabilities
Reserves $100
$100
10 Deposits
Loans
$ 90
0
Depositors have $100 in deposits,
borrowers have $90 in currency.
Money supply = C + D = $90 + $100 = $190 (!!!)
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15
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 3: Fractional reserve banking system
How did the money supply suddenly grow?
When banks make loans, they create money.
The borrower gets
 $90 in currency—an asset counted in the
money supply
 $90 in new debt—a liability that does not have
an offsetting effect on the money supply
A fractional reserve banking system
creates money, but not wealth.
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16
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 3: Fractional reserve banking system
Borrower deposits the $90 at Second National Bank.
Initially, SNB’s
T-account
looks like this:
SECOND NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Liabilities
Reserves $ 90
$ 90
9 Deposits
Loans
$ 81
0
If R = 10% for SNB, it will loan all but 10% of the
deposit.
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17
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 3: Fractional reserve banking system
SNB’s borrower deposits the $81 at Third National
Bank.
THIRD NATIONAL BANK
Initially, TNB’s
Assets
Liabilities
T-account
81 Deposits
$ 81
looks like this: Reserves $ $8.10
$72.90
Loans
$ 0
If R = 10% for TNB, it will loan all but 10% of the
deposit.
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18
Banks and the Money Supply: An Example
CASE 3: Fractional reserve banking system
The process continues, and money is created with
each new loan.
In this
Original deposit = $ 100.00
example,
FNB lending = $ 90.00
$100 of
SNB lending = $ 81.00
reserves
TNB lending = $ 72.90
generates
..
..
$1000 of
.
.
money.
Total money supply = $1000.00
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19
The Money Multiplier
 Money multiplier: the amount of money the
banking system generates with each dollar of
reserves
 The money multiplier equals 1/R.
 In our example,
R = 10%
money multiplier = 1/R = 10
$100 of reserves creates $1000 of money
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20
ACTIVE LEARNING
1
Banks and the money supply
While cleaning your apartment, you look under the
sofa cushion and find a $50 bill (and a half-eaten
taco). You deposit the bill in your checking account.
The Fed’s reserve requirement is 20% of deposits.
A. What is the maximum amount that the
money supply could increase?
B. What is the minimum amount that the
money supply could increase?
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ACTIVE LEARNING
Answers
1
You deposit $50 in your checking account.
A. What is the maximum amount that the
money supply could increase?
If banks hold no excess reserves, then
money multiplier = 1/R = 1/0.2 = 5
The maximum possible increase in deposits is
5 x $50 = $250
But money supply also includes currency,
which falls by $50.
Hence, max increase in money supply = $200.
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ACTIVE LEARNING
Answers
1
You deposit $50 in your checking account.
A. What is the maximum amount that the
money supply could increase?
Answer: $200
B. What is the minimum amount that the
money supply could increase?
Answer: $0
If your bank makes no loans from your deposit,
currency falls by $50, deposits increase by $50,
money supply does not change.
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Clicker question
In a 100% reserve banking system, the money
multiplier is
A. 0.
B. 10.
C. 1.
D. 100.
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24
A More Realistic Balance Sheet
 Assets: Besides reserves and loans, banks also
hold securities.
 Liabilities: Besides deposits, banks also obtain
funds from issuing debt and equity.
 Bank capital: the resources a bank obtains by
issuing equity to its owners
 Also: bank assets minus bank liabilities
 Leverage: the use of borrowed funds to
supplement existing funds for investment
purposes
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25
A More Realistic Balance Sheet
MORE REALISTIC NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Reserves $ 200
Liabilities
Deposits
$ 800
Loans
$ 700
Debt
$ 150
Securities
$ 100
Capital
$ 50
Leverage ratio: the ratio of assets to bank capital
In this example, the leverage ratio = $1000/$50 = 20
Interpretation: for every $20 in assets,
$ 1 is from the bank’s owners,
$19 is financed with borrowed money.
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26
Leverage Amplifies Profits and Losses
MORE REALISTIC NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Reserves $ 200
Liabilities
Deposits
$ 800
Loans
$ 700
Debt
$ 150
Securities
$ 150
Capital
$ 100
In our example, suppose bank assets
appreciate by 5%, from $1000 to $1050.
This increases bank capital from $50 to
$100, doubling owners’ equity.
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27
Leverage Amplifies Profits and Losses
MORE REALISTIC NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Reserves $ 200
Liabilities
Deposits
$ 800
Loans
$ 700
Debt
$ 150
Securities
$ 50
Capital
$
0
• Instead, if bank assets decrease by 5%,
bank capital falls from $50 to $0.
• If bank assets decrease more than 5%, bank
capital is negative and bank is insolvent.
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28
Leverage Amplifies Profits and Losses
 Capital requirement: a govt regulation that
specifies a minimum amount of capital, intended to
ensure banks will be able to pay off depositors and
debts.
 The capital requirement essentially specifies a
minimum leverage ratio that banks must maintain
 Capital requirements have been increased around
the world in response to the financial crisis of the
Great Recession.
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29
Leverage and the Financial Crisis
 In the financial crisis of 2008–2009, banks suffered
losses on mortgage loans and mortgage-backed
securities due to widespread defaults.
 Many banks became insolvent:
In the U.S., 27 banks failed during 2000–2007,
166 during 2008–2009.
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30
Leverage and the Financial Crisis
 Many other banks found themselves with too little
capital, because the market began to expect that
their profits would be poor. Consequently, the
value of their stock was bid down.
 In order to reconcile their balance sheets, banks
responded by reducing lending. This caused a
credit crunch.
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31
The beginning of a credit crunch
MORE REALISTIC NATIONAL BANK
Assets
Reserves $ 200
Liabilities
Deposits
$ 760
Loans
$ 500
Debt
$
Securities
$ 100
Capital
$ 40
0
• Capital declines.
• Assets must shrink so that the bank maintains the
minimum leverage ratio.
• Banks can accomplish this by calling in loans (and
perhaps selling securities).
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32
The Government’s Response
 To ease the credit crunch, the Federal Reserve
and U.S. Treasury injected hundreds of billions of
dollars’ worth of capital into the banking system.
 This unusual policy temporarily made U.S.
taxpayers part-owners of many banks.
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33
The Government’s Response
 The policy succeeded in “recapitalizing” the
banking system.
 In other words, the government increased the
amount of capital in the banks balance sheets.
 The precise procedure by which it accomplished
this will … be left for later courses.
 In order to reconcile their balance sheets, banks
increased the amount of loans that they made.
 This policy helped restore lending to normal levels
in 2009.
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34
The Fed’s Tools of Monetary Control
 Earlier, we learned
money supply = money multiplier × bank reserves
 The Fed can change the money supply by
changing bank reserves or
changing the money multiplier.
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35
How the Fed Influences Reserves
 Open-Market Operations (OMOs):
the purchase and sale of U.S. government
bonds by the Fed.
 If the Fed buys a government bond from a
bank, it pays by depositing new reserves in that
bank’s reserve account.
With more reserves, the bank can make more
loans, increasing the money supply.
 To decrease bank reserves and the money
supply, the Fed sells government bonds.
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36
How the Fed Influences Reserves
 If the Fed buys a bond, the bank swaps its bond
for an equivalent amount in currency.
 The bond can’t be broken up and loaned out, but
the equivalent amount in currency can.
 Some of the currency is retained as reserves,
the rest is loaned out and expands according to
the money multiplier.
 This is how the Fed can increase the money
supply by swapping its cash for a bond held by a
bank.
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37
How the Fed Influences Reserves
 The Fed makes loans to banks, increasing their
reserves.
 Traditional method: adjusting the discount
rate—the interest rate on loans the Fed makes to
banks—to influence the amount of reserves
banks borrow
 New method: Term Auction Facility—the Fed
chooses the quantity of reserves it will loan, then
banks bid against each other for these loans.
 The more banks borrow, the more reserves they
have for funding new loans and increasing the
money supply.
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38
How the Fed Influences the Reserve Ratio
 Recall: reserve ratio = reserves/deposits,
which inversely affects the money multiplier.
 The Fed sets reserve requirements: regulations
on the minimum amount of reserves banks must
hold against deposits.
Reducing reserve requirements would lower the
reserve ratio and increase the money multiplier.
 Since 10/2008, the Fed has paid interest on
reserves banks keep in accounts at the Fed.
Raising this interest rate would increase the
reserve ratio and lower the money multiplier.
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39
Problems Controlling the Money Supply
 If households hold more of their money as
currency, banks have fewer reserves,
make fewer loans, and money supply falls.
 If banks hold more reserves than required,
they make fewer loans, and money supply falls.
 Yet, Fed can compensate for household
and bank behavior to retain fairly precise control
over the money supply.
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40
Bank Runs and the Money Supply
 A run on banks:
When people suspect their banks are in trouble,
they may “run” to the bank to withdraw their funds,
holding more currency and less deposits.
 Under fractional-reserve banking, banks don’t
have enough reserves to pay off ALL depositors all
at once, hence banks may have to close.
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41
Bank Runs and the Money Supply
 This can happen even if the bank is not bankrupt,
meaning that the assets are equal in value to the
liabilities. The problem is that many of the assets
are in illiquid form, such as loans that can’t be
called in instantaneously. These assets can’t be
converted to cash quickly enough to satisfy the
demand for withdrawals.
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42
Bank Runs and the Money Supply
 Banks that fear runs may make fewer loans and
hold more reserves to satisfy depositors.
 These events increase R, reverse the process of
money creation, cause money supply to fall.
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43
Bank Runs and the Money Supply
 During 1929–1933, a wave of bank runs and
bank closings caused money supply to fall 28%.
 Many economists believe this contributed to the
severity of the Great Depression.
 Since then, federal deposit insurance has
helped prevent bank runs in the U.S.
 In the U.K., though, Northern Rock bank
experienced a classic bank run in 2007 and was
eventually taken over by the British government.
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44
Clicker question
Reducing R, the reserve requirement
A. Makes monetary policy more powerful and
reduces the likelihood of a bank run.
B. Makes monetary policy less powerful and
reduces the likelihood of a bank run.
C. Makes monetary policy less powerful and
increases the likelihood of a bank run.
D. Makes monetary policy more powerful and
increases the likelihood of a bank run.
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45
The Federal Funds Rate
 On any given day, banks with insufficient reserves
can borrow from banks with excess reserves.
 The interest rate on these loans is the federal
funds rate.
 The FOMC uses OMOs to target the fed funds
rate.
 Changes in the fed funds rate cause changes in
other rates and have a big impact on the economy.
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46
The Fed Funds rate and other rates, 1970–2011
Fed Funds
20
Prime
3 Month T-Bill
15
(%)
Mortgage
10
5
0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Monetary Policy and the Fed Funds Rate
To raise fed funds
rate, Fed sellsFederal
funds rate
govt bonds (OMO).
This removes
reserves from the
banking system,
reduces supply of
federal funds,
rf
The Federal
Funds market
S2
S1
3.75%
3.50%
causes rf to rise.
D1
F2 F1
Quantity of
federal funds
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F
48
S U MMA RY
• Money serves three functions: medium of
exchange, unit of account, and store of value.
• There are two types of money: commodity
money has intrinsic value; fiat money does not.
• The U.S. uses fiat money, which includes
currency and various types of bank deposits.
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S U MMA RY
• In a fractional reserve banking system, banks
create money when they make loans. Bank
reserves have a multiplier effect on the money
supply.
• Because banks are highly leveraged, a small
change in the value of a bank’s assets causes a
large change in bank capital. To protect
depositors from bank insolvency, regulators
impose minimum capital requirements.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as
permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.
S U MMA RY
• The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the
U.S., is responsible for regulating the monetary
system.
• The Fed controls the money supply mainly
through open-market operations. Purchasing
govt bonds increases the money supply, selling
govt bonds decreases it.
• In recent years, the Fed has set monetary policy
by choosing a target for the federal funds rate.
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part, except for use as
permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website for classroom use.