ECON 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Quantitative Easing, Savings Account, Reserve Requirement

Assume that banks do not hold excess reserves and that households do not hold currency, so the only form of money is demand deposits. To simplify the analysis, suppose the banking system has total reserves of $400. Determine the money multiplier and the money supply for each reserve requirement listed in the following table.

A higher reserve requirement is associated with a money supply.

Suppose the Federal Reserve wants to increase the money supply by $200. Again, you can assume that banks do not hold excess reserves and that households do not hold currency. If the reserve requirement is 10%, the Fed will use open-market operations to worth of U.S. government bonds.

Now, suppose that, rather than immediately lending out all excess reserves, banks begin holding some excess reserves due to uncertain economic conditions. Specifically, banks increase the percentage of deposits held as reserves from 10% to 25%. This increase in the reserve ratio causes the money multiplier to to . Under these conditions, the Fed would need to worth of U.S. government bonds in order to increase the money supply by $200.

Which of the following statements help to explain why, in the real world, the Fed cannot precisely control the money supply? Check all that apply.

1. The Fed cannot control the amount of money that households choose to hold as currency.
2. The Fed cannot prevent banks from lending out required reserves.
3. The Fed cannot control whether and to what extent banks hold excess reserves.

3. Assume that bank deposits (D) are $3,200 billion, the required reserve ratio is 10%, and currency in circulation is $400 billion. What can the Fed do (in terms of open market operations) to lower the money supply by $100 billion? Explain. (Note assume that there are no excess reserves.)

1. Bank of Beacon Hill has total reserves of $40 million and current total checking account deposits of $200 million. With a legal reserve requirement of 10% of total checking accounts, what are the bank's legal reserves and excess reserves? If the bank creates a new loan in the form of a new checking account equal to its excess reserves and each check is deposited in another commercial bank, what can the banking system do in total maximum new checking accounts (loans), given the simple bank deposit multiplier?

2. If banks desire to retain excess reserves of 10% of total checking accounts and borrowers hold 10% of their new checking accounts (loans) for liquidity purposes and do not spend that 10%, what will be the maximum impact on the money supply in the form of new checking accounts?