51 Overview

Overview

Money, loans, and banks are all tied together. Money is deposited in bank accounts, which is then loaned to businesses, individuals, and other banks. When the interlocking system of money, loans, and banks works well, economic transactions are made smoothly in goods and labor markets and savers are connected with borrowers. If the money and banking system does not operate smoothly, the economy can either fall into recession or suffer prolonged inflation.

The government of every country has public policies that support the system of money, loans, and banking. These policies, however, do not always work perfectly. This module discusses how monetary policy works and what may prevent it from working perfectly.

The organization responsible for conducting monetary policy and ensuring that a nation’s financial system operates smoothly is called the central bank. In making decisions about the money supply, a central bank decides whether to raise or lower interest rates and, in this way, to influence macroeconomic policy, whose goal is low unemployment and low inflation. The central bank is also responsible for regulating all or part of the nation’s banking system to protect bank depositors and ensure the health of the bank’s balance sheet.

Most nations have central banks or currency boards. Some prominent central banks around the world include the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England. In the United States, the central bank is called the Federal Reserve, often abbreviated as just “the Fed.” ⁽¹⁹⁾