The Fisher Effect and the Quantity Theory of Money Essay examples

The Federal Reserve has the dual job of ensuring price stability and maximum employment, which are contradictory objectives. The Feds try to achieve the goals through monetary policy which determines the demand and supply of money by controlling interest rates. The Fed’s goal is to achieve a natural rate of unemployment of more or less 5%. When the actual unemployment figures are below the natural rate of unemployment, inflation increases and there is a high demand of goods and services propelling the economy with the ensuing labor demands and the pressure it places on wages, which in turn produces inflation. When the Fed is faced with this scenario, it must increase the rates to slow the growth and achieve price stability (contractionary cycle).

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.

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.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2002), inflation can be defined as the increase in the level of prices and a decrease in the purchasing power of money. In short, money loses its value due to the increase of the prices of goods and services. Products that can experience this are food, clothing, electronics, raw materials, and more. The reasons for these occurrences are complex since there are two types of inflation, and each has its respective causes.

The Federal Reserve exercises its power to stimulate stable employment economies and economic prices. The pursuit of the required employment rate and the creation of price stability, the Federal Reserve can increase or decrease the interest rate.

Janet Yellen states, “the possibility that low long-term interest rates are a signal that the economy's long-run growth prospects are dim….depressed long-term growth prospects put sustained downward pressure on interest rates. To the extent that low long-term interest rates tell us that the outlook for economic growth is poor, all of us should be very concerned, for--as we all know--economic growth lies at the heart of our nation's, and the world's, future prosperity.” A high interest rate is usually set when an economy is already well off. An example of an economy that's well off is with the result of inflation. But if inflation is left unchecked it will lead to a loss of purchasing power meaning that your dollar is worth less than what it was before. This is where high interest rates become a great convenience to the economy. Though this may sound proficient, ultimately a high interest rate that lasts lead to struggles within the economy. Borrowing will become more difficult due to rates being to high which will also cause less productivity to

The Federal Reserve (FED) is the central bank of the United States. One of its purposes is to set interest rates at which banks lend each other money and another interest rate by which banks borrow money directly from the Fed ("How Interest Rates Work."). The interest rates set by the Fed affect the borrowing, the lending, and by extension the economy of the country. Any changes in the interest rates at which banks borrow money from the Fed will influence the country’s economy. Thus, the higher the interest rate, the lower loans are demanded. Consequently, due to this mechanism, the lower the interest rates, the higher the growth of the economy ("How Interest Rates Work."). When the Fed goes down interest rates, banks can borrow money for less.

The Fed was originally created to prevent the supply of money and credit from dissipating. In the United States today the Fed controls monetary policy. Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country, controls the supply of money, often targeting a rate of interest for the purpose of promoting economic growth and stability (Unknown). When the United States is smitten-ed by debt the Fed has the ability to lower interest rates. When interests rates are lowered, it encourages people to acquire loans and make acquisitions. The short run effect of this cycle can be positive, the long run may not be as positive. When handled erroneously the long run of inflation will be negative. In the short run when people secure loans, the loan enables the person purchasing power, which may help their finances. If the individual receiving a loan does not financially dispense their loan wisely, that individual can be in a arduous financial problem. A dire financial problem can be the possibility of becoming bankrupt, which leaves the person in a situation that is extremely difficult to over come.

The Federal Reserve went into action in response to the 2008 recession by rapidly reducing interest rates with the hopes of encouraging economic growth. The federal funds target rate was decreased to between zero and .25 percent. The results of the rate changes caused what is called “zero bound”, this reduced the effectiveness of monetary policy with the near non-existence of interest rates.

This has the effect of bringing down interest rates, injecting money into the economy, and thus encouraging borrowing and spending. However, when interest rates are at or near zero and the economy still requires stimulus (a dangerous situation now referred to as a “liquidity trap”) (Blinder 466), central banks must use more extreme methods to resuscitate the economy.

Keynes established the theory of the multiplier effect. Keynesians believe that, because prices are somewhat predictable, variations in spending, such as consumption, investment, or government expenditures, cause output to fluctuate. For example, if government spending increases and all other components remain constant, then output will increase. The multiplier effect is defined as “output increases by a multiple of the original change in spending that caused it.”(3) This means, that if the government were to increase their spending by ten billion dollars, it could cause the total output to rise by fifteen billion dollars (a multiplier of 1.5) or by five billion (a multiplier of 0.5). Thus the money that gets injected into the economy creates a multiplier effect and promotes more circulation of money by creating

When dealing with interest rates and inflation the standard equation that is used is Fisher equation. What the fisher equation explains is that the real interest rate and expected inflation equals to the nominal interest rate (it = rt + Etπt+1) This means that a rise in expected inflation causes lenders to raise their nominal interest rates as there would be a decrease in the value of their loans due to purchasing power of repayments being lower and this causes the decline in investment as borrowing costs rise.

Monetary policy effects the GDP inflation. “Between 1996 and 2000, real GDP in the United States expanded briskly and the price level rose only slowly. The economy experienced neither significant unemployment nor inflation. Some observes felt that the United States had entered a “new ear” in which business cycle was dead. But that wishful thinking came to an end in March 2001, when the economy entered its ninth recession since 1950. Since 1970, real GDP has declined in the United States in five periods: 1973-1975, 1980, 1981-1982, 1990-1991 and

There are different influences that cause inflation such as energy, food, commodities, and other goods and services. The entire economy is affected by rise of the cost of living. It also affects the cost of operating a business, borrowing money, mortgages, corporate and government bond yields, and every other aspect of the economy. There are several advantages of inflation in the economy. Some include moderate rates of inflation which allows prices to adjust. This is considered a sign of a healthy economy. With economic growth available we usually get a generous amount of inflation. Also moderate inflation rate reduces the actual value of debt. If there is a reduction, the real value of debt increase leads to a squeeze on usuable income.

Monetary policy involves manipulating the interest rate charged by the central bank for lending money to the banking system in an economy, which influences greatly a vast number of macroeconomic variables. In the UK, the government set the policy targets, but the Bank of England and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) are given authority and freedom to set interest rates, which is formally once every month. Contractionary monetary policy may be used to reduce price inflation by increasing the interest rate. Because banks have to pay more to borrow from the central bank they will increase the interest rates they charge their own customers for loans to recover the increased cost. Banks will also raise interest rates to encourage people to save more in bank deposit accounts so they can reduce their own borrowing from the central bank. As interest rates rise, consumers may save more and borrow less to spend on goods and services. Firms may also reduce the amount of money they borrow to invest in new equipment. A