Question

1) Based on the attached article that was written by Kimberly Amadeo of The Balance, updated March 21, 2018, respond to the following questions: a) The money multiplier is the amount of money that banks generate with each dollar of reserves. What is the formula for the money multiplier? b) Explain the following statement made by the author: “The higher the reserve requirement, the less profit a bank makes with its money.” c) The author states, “When the Fed reduces the reserve requirement, it's exercising expansionary monetary policy.” Explain why reducing the reserve requirement is expansionary policy. d) Define both expansionary and contractionary monetary policy. e) Explain how the Fed lowers and raises the federal funds rate. f) Who makes up the Federal Reserve Board of Governors? Reserve Requirement and How It Affects Interest Rates How Banks Lend $9 Out of Every $10 You Deposit The reserve requirement is the amount of funds a bank must have on hand each night. It is a percent of the bank's deposits. The nation's central bank sets the percentage rate. In the United States, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors controls the reserve requirement for member banks. The bank can hold the reserve either as cash in its vault or as a deposit at its local Federal Reserve bank. The reserve requirement applies to commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations, and credit unions. It also pertains to U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, Edge Act corporations, and agreement corporations. How It Works The reserve requirement is the basis for all the Fed's other tools. If the bank doesn't have enough on hand to meet its reserve, it borrows from other banks. It may also borrow from the Federal Reserve discount window. The money banks borrow or lend to each other to fulfill the reserve requirement is called federal funds. The interest they charge each other to borrow fed funds is the fed funds rate. All other interest rates are based on that rate. The Fed uses these tools to control liquidity in the financial system. When the Fed reduces the reserve requirement, it's exercising expansionary monetary policy. That creates more money in the banking system. When the Fed raises the reserve requirement, it's executing contractionary policy. That reduces liquidity and slows economic activity. The higher the reserve requirement, the less profit a bank makes with its money. A high requirement is especially hard on small banks. They don't have much to lend out in the first place. The Fed has exempted small banks from the requirement. A small bank is one with less than $15.5 million in deposits. Changing the reserve requirement is expensive for banks. It forces them to modify their procedures. As a result, the Fed Board rarely changes the reserve requirement. Instead, it adjusts the amount of deposits subject to different reserve requirement ratios. Reserve Requirement Ratio On January 18, 2018, the Fed updated its reserve requirement table. It required that all banks with more than $122.3 million on deposit maintain a reserve of 10 percent of deposits. Banks with $16 million to $122.3 million must reserve 3 percent of all deposits. Banks with deposits of $16 million or less don’t have a reserve requirement. The Fed raises the deposit level that is subject to the different ratios reach year. That gives banks an incentive to grow. The Fed can raise the low reserve tranche and the exemption amount by 80 percent of the increase in deposit in the prior year (June 30-June 30). Deposits include demand deposits, automatic transfer service accounts, and NOW accounts. Deposits also include share draft accounts, telephone or preauthorized transfer accounts, ineligible banker’s acceptances, and obligations issued by affiliates maturing in seven days or less. Banks use the net amount. That means they don't count the amounts due from other banks and any cash that's still outstanding. Since December 27, 1990, non-personal time deposits and eurocurrency liabilities have not required a reserve. How the Reserve Requirement Affects Interest Rates Central banks don't adjust the requirement every time they shift monetary policy. They have many other tools that have the same effect as changing the reserve requirement. For example, the Federal Open Market Committee sets a target for the fed funds rate at its regular meetings. If the fed funds rate is high, it costs more for banks to lend to each other overnight. That has the same effect as raising the reserve requirement. Conversely, when the Fed wants to loosen monetary policy and increase liquidity, it lowers the fed funds rate target. That makes lending fed funds cheaper. It has the same effect as lowering the reserve requirement. The Federal Reserve can't mandate that banks follow its targeted rate. Instead, it influences the banks’ rates through its open market operations. The Fed buys securities, usually Treasury notes, from member banks when it wants the fed funds rate to fall. The Fed adds credit to the bank's reserve in exchange for the security. Since the bank wishes to put this extra reserve to work, it will try to lend it to other banks. Banks cut their interest rates to do so. The Fed will sell securities to banks when it wants to increase the fed funds rate. Banks with less fed funds to lend can raise the fed funds rate. That how open market operations work. If a bank can't borrow from other banks, it can borrow from the Fed itself. That’s called borrowing from the discount window. Most banks try to avoid this. That's because the Fed charges a discount rate that's slightly higher than the fed funds rate. It also stigmatizes the bank. Other banks assume no other bank is willing to lend to it. They assume the bank has bad loans on its books or some other risk. As the fed funds rate rises, these four interest rates also rise: 1. Libor is the interest rate banks charge each other for one-month, three-month, six-month and one-year loans. Banks base their rates for credit cards and adjustable-rate mortgages on Libor. 2. The prime rate is the rate banks charge their best customers. Other bank loan rates are a little higher for other customers. 3. Interest rates paid on savings accounts and money market deposits also increase. 4. Fixed rate mortgages and loans are indirectly influenced. Investors compare these loans to the yields on longer-term Treasury notes. A higher fed funds rate can drive Treasury yields a bit higher. During the financial crisis, the Fed lowered the fed funds rate to zero. Banks were still reluctant to lend. The Fed massively expanded its open market operations with the quantitative easing program. The Fed also removed some unprofitable mortgage-backed securities from its member banks.

Answer 1

1. The formula for the money multiplier is just m= 1/r where m is the money multiplier and r is the required reserve ratio that any bank has to maintain.

2. The higher the reserve requirement, the lesser the banks can make profits with the money. This statement means that if the reserve requirement is high, then the bank has to keep that much portion as deposits and thus it can lend out much lesser. If it lends out less, then it can earn lesser profits as it is the primary source of banks' profits. For example, if a bank has $100 as deposits and reserve requirement is 50%, then the bank can lend out just $50 as loans and thus will get interest on just $50. On the other hand, if the reserve requirement is 10%, then the bank can lend out $90 as loans and thus will get an interest on the $90.

3.   Reducing the Reserve Requirement is an expansionary policy because when the fed reduces the Reserve Requirement then   the banks can lend out more money and   hence increase the money supply in the economy using the money multiplier. Increasing the money supply is an expansionary policy. So,   reducing the Reserve Requirement is an expansionary policy.

4. An expansionary monetary policy is a policy undertaken by the monetary authorities in order to expand the money supply in an economy and boost the economic activity primarily by keeping interest rates low in order to encourage borrowing by companies, individual and banks. Contractionary monetary policy is a policy undertaken by monetary authorities to fight inflation in an economy primarily by increasing interest rates and reducing the money supply.

5. The Fed raises or lowers the fed funds rate using the Open Maarket Operations. If the Fed wants to increase the rates, it sells government bonds to banks which would reduce the money with the banks and thus increase the interest rates. On the other hand, if Fed wants to lower rates, it purchases bonds from banks which would increase the money with banks and thus would lower the interest rates.