Central Banks and Alternative Monetary Alternative Monetary
Central Banks and Alternative Monetary Systems Christopher J. Neely AittViPAssistant Vice Presid idtent, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Annual Educators Conference October 19, 2011 The opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis or the Federal Reserve System. 2 Today’sTopics s Topics Central Banks and Alternative Money Systems o What is Money? o Methods of Monetary Policy o ClBkCentral Banks o Central Banks vs. Commodity Standard 3 What is Money? Money • Money: That which can be exchanged for goods and services. – Functions: • Medium of exchange • Store of value • Unit of measure Why Do We Need Money? • Money solves the mutual coincidence of wants problem. • Greatly reduces transactions costs/shopping time. – My grocer does not want a lecture on economics in exchange for Cheerios. Historical Forms of Money • Commodities: cigarettes, furs, gold, Rai stones (Yap island) • Fiat money: Money whose vvuesoalue is not intrins sc.ic. – Introduced during wartime in the United States • Charac ter is tics of usef ul money – Durable, transportable, divisible, homogenous, easily produced (?) Historical Forms of Money Rai stone Historical Forms of Money • What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a currency that is easily produced? Money Supply • Monetary base: Currency and reserves with the central bank. • Narrow to broad definitions of money – Currency – Demand deposits – Time deposits, CDs, – Shor t-tbdterm bonds • Money and bonds are close to a continuum now – M0, M1, MZM, M2 Money Supply Monetary Base 3000 2500 ars ll 2000 1500 ns of US Dol 1000 Billio 500 Monetary Base (BASE) 0 2/1/1984 2/1/1989 2/1/1994 2/1/1999 2/1/2004 2/1/2009 Money Supply Money supply levels go up and up.
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