preview

Monetary Policy Vs Federal Reserve System

Decent Essays

The term monetary policy refers to what the Federal Reserve, the nation’s central bank, does to influence the amount of money and credit in the U.S economy. The main goals of this policy are to achieve or maintain full employment, as well as, a high rate of economic growth, and to stabilize prices and wages. By enforcing an effective monetary policy, the Federal Reserve System can maintain stable prices, thereby supporting conditions for long-term economic growth and maximum employment. Up until the early 20th century experts felt that monetary policy had little use in influencing the economy. After WWII inflationary trends caused governments to ratify measures that decreased inflation by restricting growth in the money supply. Monetary policy is the domain of a nation’s central bank. The Federal Reserve System (commonly called the Fed) in the United States and the Bank of England of Great Britain are two of the largest such “banks” in the world. Even though there are some differences between the two, the basis of their operations are almost exact and are also effective for highlighting the various measures that can constitute monetary policy. The Federal Reserve System uses four main tools in regulating the money supply: open market operations, changes in reserve ratio, changes in the interest rates paid on reserves, and discount rate …show more content…

By law Commercial banks hold a specific percentage of their deposits and required reserves with the Fed (or central bank). These percentages of deposits and required reserves are held either in the form of non-interest-bearing reserves or cash. The requirement of this reserve is to act like a brake on the lending operations of commercial banks. The Fed can influence the amount of money available for lending and hence the money supply by increasing or decreasing the reserve-ratio requirement. Due to this tool being so blunt it is rarely

Get Access