Money and Banking

Money

is whatever is generally accepted in exchange for goods and services servicesaccepted not as an object to be consumed but as an object that represents a temporary room of purchasing power to be used for buying still other goods and services.
-- Milton Friedman

What is Money?
Money is anything that is generally acceptable to sellers in exchange for goods and services. A liquid asset is an asset that can easily (i.e., quickly, cheaply, conveniently) be exchanged for goods and services.

What is Money?
Functions of Money 1) Medium of exchange 2) Unit of account 3) Store of value 4) Standard of Deferred Payment

Medium of Exchange (1)



The use of money as a medium of exchange (to make transactions) lowers transactions costs. Trade without money, directly exchanging goods for goods, is called barter.

Barter requires a double coincidence of wantseach party to the exchange has to want what the other has to trade. Finding someone else who wants what you have to trade and who has what you want is time-consuming and costly.

Medium of Exchange (2)



A medium of exchange must be:

Widely accepted for payment Portable: easy to transport and transfer to the seller Divisible: measurable in both small and large units

Unit of Account
Money acts as a common unit of measurement.  This allows us to compare the values of very dissimilar things.  It makes accounting possible.  As a result of these things, it lowers information costs.


Store of Value


Money makes it possible to carry buying power forward into the future. Therefore, for money to be a store of value, it must be durable.

Durability is the ability to retain value over time. Inflation can reduce the effectiveness of money as a store of value. This can lead to currency substitutionthe use of foreign money as a substitute for domestic money when the domestic economy has a high rate of inflation.

Standard of Deferred Payment

  

Debt is denominated in money terms. The standard for repayment is money. There is a difference between money and credit:

Money is what you use to pay for goods and services. Credit is available savings that are lent to borrowers to spend. Credit is debt, something you owe.

Money Supply
Money Today consists of:

Currency is the bills and coins that we use. Deposits are also money because they can be converted into currency and are used to settle debts.

What is Money?


The narrowest and most liquid measure of the money supply.

It includes financial assets that are immediately available for spending on goods and services. Currency Travelers Checks Demand Deposits (checking accounts) Other Checkable Deposits (interest-bearing checking)

includes:

Demand Deposits and Checkable Deposits are called transactions accountsthese are checking accounts that can be drawn upon to make payments.

About Currency


Currency generally blocked by gold or silver but U.S. currency today is not backed by gold or silver.

It is backed only by the confidence and trust of the public. It is a fiduciary monetary system. (Fiducia means trust in Latin.)

Money backed by gold or silver (or something else of value) is called commodity money.

Problems with Commodity Money



At times, the precious metal in gold or silver coins may be worth more than the face value of the coins.

In such situations, the public will begin to hoard the coins. According to Greshams Law, if two coins have the same face value but different intrinsic (commodity) values, the cheaper coin will be used to make transactions and the other coin will be hoarded. Bad money drives out good.

What is Money? Money?

Less liquid assets that can be converted to assets quickly and at low cost. Adds:


Savings deposits Small denomination time deposits (CDs) Retail money market mutual funds

Global Money


 

An international reserve asset is an asset used to settle debts between governments. Today gold is not the most common Intl Reserve Asset, national currencies serve this function. Thus these currencies are referred to as international reserve currencies. A composite currency is an artificial unit of account that is an average of the values of several national currencies.

SDR: Special Drawing Right, average of the values of U.S. dollar, the euro, the Japanese Yen, and the U.K. pound. Created by the IMF in 1970 as an intl reserve asset. ECU: European Currency Unit. Replaced by the Euro.

Financial Intermediaries
Financial intermediaries are firms that take deposits from households and firms and make loans to other households and firms.

Financial Intermediaries
Four Types of Financial Intermediaries 1) Commercial banks 2) Savings and loan associations 3) Savings banks and credit unions 4) Money market mutual funds

Financial Intermediaries


Commercial Banks

Financial institutions that offer deposits on which checks can be written. The make loans to households and businesses. They are corporations. Originally only commercial banks could offer (noninterest-bearing) checking accounts. Savings and Loan Associations, Credit Unions, Mutual Savings Banks. Created to encourage saving, hence thrift. Until 1980, these institutions could offer higher interest rates on savings accounts than banks. Now thrifts can offer many of the same services as commercial banks.

Thrifts (Saving) Institutions

International Banking (1)



Eurocurrency market or offshore banking: the market for deposits and loans generally denominated in a currency other than the currency in which the transaction occurs.

For example, a U.S. firm may borrow U.S. dollars from a bank in London. Because foreign banks do not operate under U.S. legal restrictions, they may offer better interest rates on deposits and loans. On the other hand, foreign banking laws do apply and may cause other problems.

International Banking (2)



International Banking Facilities (IBFs) were legalized in December 1981. An IBF is a division that is allowed to receive deposits from and make loans to nonresidents without the restrictions that apply to domestic banks. This allows domestic banks to compete more fairly with offshore banks.

Informal Markets in Developing Countries



ROSCARotating of Savings and Credit Associations

Operate like savings clubs Example: 12 members contribute every month, and then every 12th month each member receives the full amount contributed by everyone.

Fractional Reserve Banking

A system in which banks keep less than 100 percent of the deposits available for withdrawal.  An outgrowth of goldsmith practices.


How Banks Create Money

Reserves: Actual and Required

The reserve ratio is the portion of a banks total deposits that are held in reserves. The required reserves ratio is the ratio of reserves to deposits that banks are required, by regulation, to hold. Required reserves are those reserves which must be kept on hand or on deposit with the Central Bank in order to comply with the reserve requirements. Excess reserves are the cash reserves beyond those required, which can be loaned.