ECON 1125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Janet Yellen, Federal Funds Rate, Federal Reserve Act

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whiteturtle462

4 Apr 2016

School

Northeastern University

Department

Economics

Course

ECON 1125

Professor

Xiaolin Shi

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Document Summary

Questions: why not barter, what backs our money, the fed tight rope, interest rates: with money an economy can run! Money solves all of those problems with its 3 functions: It"s easy to see the basis upon which goods are traded for other goods: the value of each good is measured in terms of the other goods that it can be traded for! Our money, like all money these days, is called. Fiat money: it has value because the government says it has value and we trust the government not to do anything that would jeaporize its value. Our trust in the keepers of the gate! The fed walks a tightrope: too much money inflation. Too little money recession. (how does this relationship between money and inflation/recession relate to spending?) The fed watches m2 pretty closely and as we"ll find out in chapter 16, the fed must walk this tightrope between too much money and too little!

Related Questions

1. The market in which loans are bought and sold is called the:

		loan market.
		money market.
		secondary loan market.
		primary loan market.

2. Which of the following is omitted in a barter transaction?

		trade
		medium of exchange
		store of value
		money

3. If Bill performs plumbing upgrades for Alice in exchange for her incorporating his business, then their _________________________ will be satisfied.

		balance of trade
		double coincidence of wants
		convenience of exchange
		division of labour

4. If loans become far less available, then sectors of the economy that ______________ like business investment, home construction, and car manufacturing can be dealt a crushing blow.

		depend on borrowed money
		typically generate extraordinary gains
		make loans to financial capital markets
		failed to diversify risk

5. Stealth bank has deposits of $600 million. It holds reserves of $30 million and government bonds worth $80 million. If the bank sells its loans at the market value of $400 million, what will its total assets equal?

		$110 million
		$710 million
		$480 million
		$510 million

6. Lance paid $175,000 for his house in 2003 and sold it for $325,000 in 2006. What function did the house serve during the time Lance owned it?

		medium of exchange
		unit of account
		store of value
		unit of exchange

7.Which of the following terms is considered to be a narrow definition of the money supply that includes, among other things, currency?

		savings
		money
		M2
		M1

8. Which of the following institutions determines the quantity of money in the economy as its most important task?

		U.S. Department of the Treasury
		Federal Open Market Committee
		Central Bank
		Federal Reserve Board of Governors

9. How are the specific interest rates for the lending and borrowing markets determined?

		U.S. Treasury Department Board policy
		by the forces of supply and demand
		through open market operations
		by altering the discount rate

10.When the central bank lowers the reserve requirement on deposits:

		the money supply increases and interest rates decrease.
		the money supply and interest rates decrease.
		the money supply and interest rates increase.
		the money supply decreases and interest rates increase.

taupeant891

QUESTION 46

When the Fed buys a U.S. bond in the open market

		its action has no effect on the total reserves or the money supply because the check it writes increases reserves at one bank but they fall at another.
		its action expands total reserves and the money supply.
		its action contracts total reserves and the money supply.
		total reserves increase by the amount of the purchase but the money supply stays the same.

1.11 points

QUESTION 47

When the Fed sells government securities,

		reserves increase, leading to a decrease in the money supply by an amount more than the sale of the government securities.
		reserves decrease, leading to a decrease in the money supply by an amount more than the sale of the government securities.
		reserves increase, leading to a increase in the money supply by an amount more than the sale of the government securities.
		reserves decrease, leading to a increase in the money supply by an amount more than the sale of the government securities.

1.11 points

QUESTION 48

The maximum potential money multiplier is equal to

		the reserve ratio.
		one minus the reserve ratio
		the inverse of the required reserve ratio.
		the number of dollars on reserve.

1.11 points

QUESTION 49

The potential money multiplier gives us

		the growth in the money supply when income increases.
		the growth in real national income when the money supply increases.
		the maximum potential change in the money supply due to a change in income.
		the maximum potential change in the money supply due to a change in reserves.

1.11 points

QUESTION 50

An increase in the reserve ratio

		increases the money multiplier.
		will cause banks to make more loans.
		has an expansionary effect on the money supply.
		has a contractionary effect on the money supply.

1.11 points

QUESTION 51

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures

		banks against lawsuits.
		the deposits held in member banks.
		the deposits held in the Fed.
		the federal funds market.

1.11 points

QUESTION 52

Bank runs are a possibility because

		in difficult times people want currency instead of demand deposits.
		the FDIC is inefficient.
		banks do not keep enough reserves to cover all their depository liabilities.
		bankers are often poor businesspeople.

1.11 points

QUESTION 53

The manner in which FDIC deposit insurance is set up in the United States encourages banks to

		make riskier loans than they otherwise would.
		reject some loans that probably would be profitable.
		maintain excess reserves that are too great.
		be too conservative in their lending practices.

1.11 points

QUESTION 54

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

		discourages banks from engaging in excessive risk taking.
		was established after the Panic of 1907.
		only insures deposits in money-center banks.
		increases the stability of the banking system by reducing the likelihood of bank runs.

1.11 points

QUESTION 55

What are the two features of money that distinguish it from all other goods in the economy?

		Money is government issued and it is redeemable for gold or silver.
		Money is part of every barter transaction and it is divisible.
		Money is accepted as a medium of exchange and it is the common unit of account used to express prices.
		Money is a common unit of account and it is also can be traded for other currencies at a guaranteed exchange rate.

1.11 points

QUESTION 56

Holding money to meet unplanned expenditures and emergencies is known as

		asset demand.
		precautionary demand.
		aggregate demand.
		transactions demand.

1.11 points

QUESTION 57

When people want to hold money to make regular planned expenditures, this is

		the transaction demand for money.
		the spending demand for money.
		the asset demand for money.
		the precautionary demand for money.

1.11 points

QUESTION 58

When interest rates rise, the transactions demand for money usually

		decreases.
		increases.
		decreases initially and then increases to the original position.
		does not change.

1.11 points

QUESTION 59

As nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rises, the transactions demand for money

		increases, and the money demand curve shifts to the right.
		remains constant, and the money demand curve remains the same.
		decreases, and the money demand curve shifts to the left.
		increases, and the money demand curve shifts to the left.

1.11 points

QUESTION 60

One of the economic costs of holding currency is that

		it fulfills no precautionary role.
		it fulfills no transactions role.
		it earns no interest income.
		its real value always increases.

blacktrout920

CLASS NOTES ARE LOCATED WHERE IT SAYS CLASS NOTES!

During the early 1700s, a sailing ship is wrecked on an uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea. The passengers and crew survive but lose all their possessions. There is no source of fresh water on the island, but coconut palm trees are fairly abundant, and the survivors are able to drink milk harvested from coconuts. There are no mammals living on the island, but many birds roost there, and these become a source of meat. There are a number of mango trees that provide fruit. A long, tough form of sawgrass grows in a number of different places on the island. This grass can be woven into knee-length sleeveless shirts, which are the basic type of clothing for people of both genders. The people on this island have developed a simple system of direct market exchange. Currently, two mangos trade for five coconuts, six coconuts trade for a pound of meat, and three pounds of meat trade for four shirts.

1. Use a formula that was stated in class, and in my notes, to calculate the total number of distinct relative prices in the islandâs economy. Note that when this formula is used to count relative prices, any given pair of goods is considered to have only one relative price. For example, if we count the price of a pound of meat in mangos as one relative price, then we donât count the price of mangos in pounds of meat as a second relative price.

(Class Notes: In a barter economy with markets, each good should have a market price, per unit, in terms of each of the other goods: baskets of fish per bushel of apples, bags of coconuts per bushel of apples, etc. A price of this type â units of one good per unit of the other good â is called a relative price (alternatively, a barter price). If there are different goods traded in an economy, then there turn out to be relative prices for a merchant to keep track of, in each market he visits. Each of the n goods has unit prices: one for each of the other goods. We divide by two to avoid counting reciprocal duplicates: if it costs 2 bags of coconuts to buy a bushel of apples, then it costs 1/2 bushel of apples to buy a bag of coconuts, and so on. )

2. Use the price information you are given to calculate all the distinct relative prices. Remember that the prices we are interested in are unit prices. A unit price is the price of a single unit of one good in units of another good. For each pair of goods, use the order that produces the highest unit price. In the case of coconuts and shirts, for example, if the price of a shirt in coconuts is higher than the price of a coconut in shirts, then report the first price but not the second one. Note: In calculating unit prices, donât worry about issues of divisibility. Assume that any good can be divided in any way, so that fractions or decimals can be components of unit prices.

3. For each relative price you just calculated, calculate the relative price if the order of the two items is switched. (In the scenario above, for example, you would now calculate the price of a coconut in shirts.) What very simple formula can you use to do this? Explain briefly.

4. Now suppose the people on this island start using mangos as money. The relative prices on the island do not change, and the absolute prices are consistent with them. a. Use a formula stated in class, and in my notes, to calculate the total number of absolute prices in the islandâs economy. b. Report these absolute prices.

Class Notes: ( In a monetary economy, in contrast, each good has a single absolute price (alternatively, a money price), which is its unit price in terms of money: dollars per bushel of apples, etc. If we assume that one of the n goods is used as money, then a merchant only needs to keep track of absolute prices. As long as there are more than two different goods ( ), it turns out that , and the difference between these two numbers gets very big as n gets large. Even if there are only 10 different goods, then there are 45 relative prices and only 9 absolute prices. And if there are 100 different goods, which is a more realistic number, then there are 99 absolute prices but almost 5000 relative prices.)

5. Comment briefly on the potential advantages and disadvantages of using mangos as money, using our list of the desirable properties of money as a guide.

6. Suppose you are a merchant on this island, where mangos are used as money in the market (see Item 4 above). A competing merchant who dislikes using money in transactions is willing to trade coconuts for shirts (or vice-versa) directly, at a rate of five coconuts per shirt. Explain, carefully and completely, how you could use this merchantâs willingness to trade these two goods, at this rate, in order to make a profit of one unit of money for yourself by (1) using money to buy units of a good in the market, (2) trading those units of the good to this merchant, in exchange for units of another good, and (3) selling those units in the market for money. Identify the items traded and the quantities, and verify the amount of the profit. Finally, explain what you would need to do in order to make a larger profit (double, for example).

ECON 1125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Janet Yellen, Federal Funds Rate, Federal Reserve Act

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