monetary policy
Political Science
Economics
(noun)
The process of controlling the supply of money in an economy, often conducted by central banks.
Finance
Examples of monetary policy in the following topics:
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Growth Through Monetary Policy
- Monetary policy seeks to further economic policy goals through influencing interest rates.
- By adjusting monetary policy in favor of low interest rates and a large monetary base, the Fed is taking expansionary actions designed to help the United States recover from the recession.
- Since the 1970s, monetary policy has generally been formed separately from fiscal policy.
- There are several monetary policy tools available to achieve these ends:
- The primary tool of monetary policy is open market operations.
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The Effect of Restrictive Monetary Policy
- A restrictive monetary policy will generally increase unemployment and decrease inflation.
- Monetary policy is can be classified as expansionary or restrictive (also called contractionary).
- Restrictive monetary policy expands the money supply more slowly than usual or even shrinks it, while and expansionary policy increases the money supply.
- Monetary policy focuses on the first two elements.
- A central bank can enact a contractionary monetary policy several ways.
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Introduction to Monetary Policy
- Monetary policy is the process by which a monetary authority controls the money supply, often to produce stable prices and low unemployment.
- Monetary policy differs from fiscal policy, which refers to taxation, government spending, and associated borrowing.
- A monetary authority will typically pursue expansionary monetary policy when there is an output gap - that is, a country is producing output at a lower level than its potential output.
- By contrast, a monetary authority will pursue a contractionary monetary policy when it considers inflation a threat.
- Thus, contractionary monetary policy causes aggregate demand to fall, thereby reducing the rate of inflation. .
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The Effect of Expansionary Monetary Policy
- Monetary policy is referred to as either being expansionary or contractionary.
- Monetary policy focuses on the first two elements.
- A central bank can enact an expansionary monetary policy several ways.
- Another way to enact an expansionary monetary policy is to increase the amount of discount window lending.
- Another method of enacting a expansionary monetary policy is by decreasing the reserve requirement.
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Arguments For and Against Fighting Recession with Expansionary Monetary Policy
- Expansionary monetary policy is traditionally used to try to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates.
- Monetary policy, to a great extent, is the management of expectations between interest rates, the price of the use of money, and the total supply of money.
- When the central bank is in complete control of the money supply, the monetary authority has the ability to alter the money supply and influence the interest rate to achieve policy goals .
- The increase in the money supply is the primary conduit for expansionary monetary policy.
- Assess the value of discretionary expansionary monetary policy and the associated shortcomings.
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Monetary Policy
- Monetary policy is the process by which the monetary authority of a country controls the supply of money.
- 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.
- Monetary theory provides insight into how to craft optimal monetary policy.
- Monetary policy differs from fiscal policy, which refers to taxation, government spending, and associated borrowing.
- The primary tool of monetary policy is open market operations.
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Monetary Policy
- Monetary theory provides insight into how to craft optimal monetary policy.
- Monetary policy differs from fiscal policy.
- Since the 1970's, monetary policy has generally been formed separately from fiscal policy.
- The primary tool of monetary policy is open market operations.
- Recognize the importance of monetary policy for addressing common economic problems
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Arguments For and Against Discretionary Monetary Policy
- These typically used fiscal and monetary policy to adjust inflation, output, and unemployment.
- Policy is implemented based on indicator events in the economy and the policy is expected and carried out in a timely manner.
- In this case the central banking authorities have autonomy and are able to use monetary policy to enable their mandate of economic growth and full employment.
- The policies they enact cannot be destabilized by government fiscal policy.
- Milton Friedman was a Nobel Prize (1976) recipient in the field of Economics and was a supporter of rules-based monetary policy.
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Monetary Policy and Fiscal Stabilization
- But with inflation increasingly ravaging the economy, the central bank abruptly tightened monetary policy beginning in 1979.
- The growing importance of monetary policy and the diminishing role played by fiscal policy in economic stabilization efforts may reflect both political and economic realities.
- Political realities, in short, may favor a bigger role for monetary policy during times of inflation.
- One other reason suggests why fiscal policy may be more suited to fighting unemployment, while monetary policy may be more effective in fighting inflation.
- The monetary policy remedy to economic decline is to increase the amount of money in circulation, thereby cutting interest rates.
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Managing the Business Cycle
- When the economy is not at a steady state, the government and monetary authorities have policy mechanisms to move the economy back to consistent growth.
- When the economy is not at a steady state and instead is at a point of either overheating (growing to fast) or slowing, the government and monetary authorities have policy mechanisms, fiscal and monetary, respectively, at their disposal to help move the economy back to a steady state growth trajectory.
- Expansionary monetary policy relies on the central bank increasing availability of loanable funds through three mechanisms: open market operations, discount rate, and the reserve ratio.
- Similarly, contractionary monetary policy is the opposite of expansionary monetary policy and occurs when the supply of loanable funds is limited, to reduce the access and availability to relatively inexpensive credit.
- Identify how changes in monetary and fiscal policy can manage the business cycle, and why that is desirable