Money and Interest Rate - The money supply: commercial banks and the creation of money

5 important questions on Money and Interest Rate - The money supply: commercial banks and the creation of money

The determination of the money supply in a modern economy depends in part on the behavior of commercial banks and their depositors. Bank reserves are:

Cash or similar assets held by commercial banks for the purpose of meeting depositor withdrawals and payments.

100 per cent reserve banking is:

A situation in which banks' reserves equal 100 per cent of their deposits.

A fractional-reserve banking system is:

A banking system in which bank reserves are less than deposits so that the reserve-deposit ratio is less than 100 per cent.
  • Higher grades + faster learning
  • Never study anything twice
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Discover Study Smart

Deposits will expand through additional rounds of lending as long as the actual ratio of reserves to deposits exceeds the ratio desired by banks. When the actual reserve ratio equals the desired reserve ratio the expansion stops. So ultimately, deposits in the banking system satisfy the following relationship:

Desired reserve - deposit ratio = bank reserves / bank deposits
This can be rewritten to solve for bank deposits:
bank deposits = bank reserves / (desired reserve - deposit ratio)
or let D denote bank deposits, RES denote bank reserves and rr the banks' desired reserve-deposit ratio:
D = 1/rr * RES

The monetary base (or stock of high-powered money) is:

The potential quantity of reserves available to commercial banks, defined as the sum of bank reserves and currency held by the non-bank public: H = CUR + RES
we assume that the public holds a constant fraction cr (or currency ratio) of deposits in currency, that is: CUR = crD
as bank reserved are fraction rr of deposits:
H = crD + rrD = (cr + rr)D
Rearranging to solve for deposits:
D = 1/(cr + rr) * H
substituting in the stock of money:
M = cr/(cr + rr) * H + 1/(cr+rr) * H
or M = (1+cr)/(cr+rr) * H

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

  • A unique study and practice tool
  • Never study anything twice again
  • Get the grades you hope for
  • 100% sure, 100% understanding
Remember faster, study better. Scientifically proven.
Trustpilot Logo