Banking and the Expansion of Money Supply

Banking system

  • Is made up of many banks, including commercial and investment

Commercial Banks

  • Store your money and pay you interest

  • This is labeled under a bank’s liabilities side, however, they loan out some of your money on interest to make money, so that is on their assets side of their balance sheet

  • Fractional reserve banking allows banks to hold only a fraction of deposits (as set by the central bank) as reserves, enabling them to create new loans and expand the money supply in the economy.

  • Required reserves are the % of demand deposits banks must hold in their reserves

  • Excess reserves are the % of demand deposits banks choose to hold on to, to loan out.

  • Assets and Liabilities must equal each other

Banks and Money Creation

  • When a bank loans out its excess reserves, those loans get redeposited into other banks

  • Individual banks can make new loans- or fewer loans- based on the behaviors of their customers

  • The Money multiplier is used to determine maximum changes to the banking system when deposits or withdrawals from demand deposits occur.

  • Money Multiplier (MM) = 1 / Reserve requirement (rr)

  • So, if there are excess reserves of $900 to be loaned out, then, with a 10% reserve requirement, it can create a maximum increase in the money supply of up to $9,000, as the money multiplier of 10 amplifies the initial excess reserves.

  • To calculate the total change in the banking system of demand deposits, multiply the amount of money invested by the money multiplier

  • Maximum change in money supply = (amount added (or withdrawn) x money multiplier) - initial investment

Total reserves is found by Monetary base - currency in circulation