Macroeconomics Chapter 17 Study Guide

| Textbook pages 6-9. We assume that the currency will be stable over time. Inflation is an example.

Given its mandate to maximize employment and maintain price stability, the Fed took monetary policy actions in December 2008 to keep long-term interest rates at near zero (between 0.0% and 0.25%) to help stabilize and revive the U.S economy -- leaving no option for further interest rate reduction.

To be more precise in the way the monetary policy works, it is under three implements that define its functions: open market operations, changes in the discount rate, and changes in the required reserve ratio. These are the functions that provide the Federal Reserves (the Fed) the ability to change the money supply in our economy. It is a matter of actions taken to maintain our country in the best way possible and, of course, stability comes with a price. With things like supporting our troops in other countries, like Iraq and Afghanistan, a cut in tax rates, and increases in overall spending, it adds up to where we have spent more than we have collected in revenue (Fix the

Prices change because of the economy. Inflation is represented as a rise in the general price level. For example, prices of many goods and services such as housing, apparel, food, transportation, and fuel must be increasing in order for inflation to occur in the overall economy. If prices of just a few types of goods or services are growing, there isn’t necessarily inflation. Demand-Pull Inflation and Cost-Push In  cause an increase in the overall price level within an economy.  The Federal Reserve carried an informal inflation goal over a long period, only making its policy official in January of 2012, when it announced that it thought a policy which targets a 2% rate of inflation "is most consistent over the longer run with the Federal Reserve's statutory

Economic growth, low unemployment, and overall financial system stability are a few of the goals of the Fed. For politicians in Congress, their goal is to be reelected, often times by any means necessary. The Fed follows the economic business cycle and can track patterns to predict when the economy may be headed for a trough and control the money supply as much as possible to avoid inflation, which would lead to less confidence in the U.S dollar. For politicians, the political cycle and the business cycle do not follow the same patterns. For example, if Congress was responsible for how much money was circulating in the economy, and there are no do-overs in elections, a candidate that wanted to be reelected could increase the money supply in enough time to get the votes for a win, and the citizens would not realize the effects of callously increasing the supply until after the elected official was in office. The intentions and goals of the two bodies need to remain independent of one another because there is too much room for human error and self-interest in

In December of 1913, the Federal Reserve System (Fed) was created by the Federal Reserve Act. According to Congress, the role of the Federal Reserve System is to promote maximum employment, stability and growth of the economy, and moderate long-term interest rates. The Fed employs Monetary Policy in an effort to manage both the money supply and interest rates while stimulating the economy to operate close to full employment. One school of thought called Monetarism believes that the Federal Reserve should simply pursue policies to eliminate inflation. Zero inflation may help the market to avoid imbalances, stabilize the business cycle, and promote steady growth in our economy. On the other hand, zero

The main reason why the Fed wants to shrink the money supply is to achieve their policy goals. They simply want to alter the money supply. This is achieved through raising the federal discount rate, reducing the monetary base through open market operations, and increasing reserve requirements. The Fed is likely to decrease the money supply during times of high output and high inflation. The reason is that this gives the Fed opportunity to keep inflation in check without doing much harm to output.

Inflation is a general increase in the prices of all goods and services. Inflation occurs when the average level of prices in the economy increases over time. Even as overall prices are increasing, particular relative prices will change. The US Federal Reserve attempts to control and reduce inflation. Central banks focus is on strictly controlling inflation, protecting financial assets, and keeping labor markets strictly in check. Central Banks hold inflation more important than unemployment. Central Banks believe the only long-run impact of monetary policy is on the rate of inflation. They believe free-market forces in the real economy determine real output, employment, and productivity. To attain the targeted inflation rate, central banks influence credit creation and hence spending by frequently adjusting interest rates.

The Federal reserve needs to increase interest rates in the next year in order to reduce inflation. With low unemployment, the government is placing strain on the economy by lowering taxes and increasing spending. When the economy reaches its maximum output, prices increase while output remains the same. This could be what is happening now, with economic overheating on the horizon. However, the Federal Reserve could stifle this inflation by hiking interest rates over the next year. This would decrease the money supply and thus reduce inflation to its targeted level. It would also provide some leverage for the Fed to lower rates in the case of a recession.

United States Federal Reserve system, also known as Federal Reserve or simply “Fed” is the United States central banking system. The Federal Reserve took inception in 1913, after the adoption of the Federal Reserve Act. The United States Congress has mandated three macroeconomic objectives to the Federal Reserve. These are minimum levels of unemployment, prices stability and keeping in check the rates of interests. Over the years, the role of Federal Reserve has expanded. It now formulates the country’s monetary policies, conducts supervision and regulation of the banking institutions, maintenance of the financial

One form of direct control can be exercised by adjusting the legal reserve ratio (the proportion of its deposits that a member bank must hold in its reserve account), and as a result, increasing or decreasing the amount of new loans that the commercial banks can make. Because loans give rise to new deposits, the possible money supply is, in this way, expanded or reduced. This policy tool has not been used too much in recent years. The money supply may also be influenced through manipulation of the discount rate, which is the rate if interest charged by the Federal Reserve banks on short-term secured loans to member banks. Since these loans are typically sought to maintain reserves at their required level, an increase in the cost of such loans has an effect similar to that of increasing the reserve requirement. The classic method of indirect control is through open-market operations, first widely used in the 1920s and now used daily to make some adjustment to the market. Federal Reserve bank sales or purchases of securities on the open market tend to reduce or increase the size of commercial bank reserves. When the Federal Reserve sells securities, the purchasers pay for them with checks drawn on their deposits, thereby reducing the reserves of the banks on which the checks are drawn. The three instruments of control explained above have been conceded to be more effective in preventing inflation in times of high economic activity than in bringing about revival from a

It widely recognized that the monetary policy within a country should be primarily concerned with the pursuit of price stability. However, it is still not clear how this objective can be achieved most effectively. This debate remains unsettled, but an increasing number of countries have adopted inflation targeting as their monetary policy framework. (Dr E J van der Merwe, 2002) This topic of Inflation targeting is a subject which immediately conjures different perceptions from different people. Many feel that low inflation should be a main aim of monetary policy, while others (such as trade union activists) believe that a higher growth rate to stimulate jobs should be the main concern.

On September 18, 2013 the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its view that a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy will remain appropriate for a considerable time after the asset purchase program ends and the economic recovery strengthens. In addition, the committee agreed to continue its monthly $85 billion purchase of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5 percent. Inflation between one and two years ahead is projected to be no more than a half percentage point above the Committee's 2 percent longer-run goal and longer-term inflation expectations continue to be well anchored .

      Monetary policy is under the control of the Federal Reserve System and is completely discretionary. It is the changes in interest rates and money supply to expand or contract aggregate demand. In a recession, the Fed will lower interest rates and increase the money supply. The Federal Reserve System’s control over the money supply is the key Mechanism of monetary policy. They use 3 monetary policy tools- Reserve Requirements, Discount Rates/Interest Rates, and Open Market Operations. The reserve requirement is the percentage of bank deposits a bank must hold in reserves and cannot loan out. By raising or lowering the reserve requirements, the Fed controls the amount of loanable funds. The interest rate is the amount the FED charges private banks, so they can meet the reserve requirements. The prime rate is currently set at 5%. If the Interest rate is low, the banks will borrow more money from the FED and the money supply will increase. Interest rates have been above average for the past 20 years, but are currently considered low. Open Market Operations is the most effective and most used

“All parenting manuals tell parents to maintain credibility and to set fair and firm rules. Most parents attempt to do so. But as all, or at least most, parents know, sometimes exceptions are necessary. Not all contingencies can be planned for.” Analogous to that, as the author, David Colander, points out is that policies can be created but there can be exceptions to any policy. To begin with, let’s consider the problem that arises from the fact that there is no oversight in the Federal Reserve. In other words, the Fed can do what it wants, i.e. increase or decrease the money supply, because of the discretion it has; almost like saying that police officers have no guidelines to follow and can do whatever they want with all the power their given. Second, the problem that arises out of the fact that the Fed assumes there is only one interest rate; however, there are various different types of interest rates. So this becomes a problem in the short-run but not necessarily in the long run, after the interest rates have averaged out. This means that consumer borrowing (or when banks lend money) they’ll do so differently because of the different interest rates that do exist. Third, exists with what I mentioned about the short-term and long-term effects; essentially, inflation,