Monday, April 29, 2013

Unit V & VI

From Short Run to Long Run

  • When changes occur in the short run they result in either increased or decreased producer profits – not changes in wages paid
  • In the long run increases in AD result in a higher price level, as in the short run, but as workers demand more money the AS curve shifts left to equate to production in the original output level, but now at a higher price
  • In the long run, the AS curve is vertical at the natural rate of unemployment (NRU), or full employment (FE) level of output. Everyone who wants a job has one and no one is enticed into or out of the market
  • Demand-pull inflation: results when an increase in demand shifts the AD curve to the right, temporarily increasing output while raising prices
  • Cost-push inflation: results when an increase in input costs that shifts the AS curve to the left. In this case the price level increase is not in response to the increase in AD, but instead the cause of price level increasing

The Philips Curve

  •  Relationship between unemployment and inflation
  • The trade off between inflation and unemployment occurs over the short run
  • Each point on the Philips curve corresponds to a different level of output.

Long Run Philips Curve (LRPC)

  • Occurs at the natural rate of unemployment (NRU)
  • Represented by a  vertical line
  • The natural rate and fewer worker benefits create a lower NRU
  • The economy produces at the full employment output level
  • The nominal wages of workers fully incorporate any changes in price level as wages adjust to inflation over the long-term
LRPC only shifts if the LRAS curve shifts
  • Determinants for LRAS is the same for LRPC
  • Increase in unemployment it will shift LRPC to the right
  • Decreases in unemployment will cause LRPC to shift left
If natural rate if NRU changes, LRPC moves 
  • 3 types of NRU
    • Frictional, structural, seasonal


Short Run Philips Curve (SRPC)

  • Assumed to be stable in the short run because the SRAS is stable
    • Increase in AD causes the SRPC to shift up/left along the curve.
    • Decrease in AD SRPC shits downward along the curve
Supply shocks – rapid and significant increases in resource costs which causes SRAS curve to shift, thus producing a corresponding shift in the SRPC
  • Ex: price of oil
Misery index - combination of inflation and unemployment in any given year
  • Single digit misery is good
Stagflation – occurs when high unemployment and high inflation occur at the same time

Disinflation – inflation decreases overtime


Supply-side Economics (Reagonomics)


  • Support policies that promote GDP growth by arguing that high marginal tax rates along with the current system of transfer payment (employment compensation or social securities) provide disincentives to work, invest, innovate, and undertake entrepreneurial ventures
  • Tend believe that the AS curve shifts to the right, thus creating the trickle down effect
    • Believed the rich get their's first

Marginal Tax Rate

  • Amount paid on the last dollar earned or on each additional dollar earned.
  • Reducing marginal tax rates, supply side economists believe it will encoure more people to work longer, forgoing leisure time for extra income

Criticism of Laffer Curve

  1. Where the economy is actually located on the curve is difficult to determine
  2. Tax cuts also increase demand which can fuel inflation
  3. Empirical evidence suggest that the impact of tax rates on inentives to work, invest, and save are small



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Unit IV

Uses of Money
  • Medium of exchange
  • Unit of account
  • Store of value
Types of Money
  • Fiat money (because the government says so)
  • Commodity money (goods)
  • Representative money (is backed by precious metals)

Characteristics of Money
  • Durability
  • Portability
  • Divisibility
  • Uniformity
  • Scarcity
  • Acceptability
Money Supply
  1. M1 Money
    • Currency in circulation (coins, paper money, checkable deposits, traveler's check)
  2. M2 Money
    • M1 money, saving's accounts, money market accounts, deposits, deposits held by bank outside
Fractional Reserve Banking
  • process by banks of holding a small portion of their deposits in reserve and loaning out the excess
  1. Banks keep cash on hand
  2. Banks must keep reserved deposits in their vaults at the Fed
  3. Total Reserves - total funds held by a bank
    • TR = RR + ER
  4. Banks can lend only to the extent of their ER
  5. Reserve ratio = required reserves / total reserves
  • Significance of a Fraction Reserve System
    • Banks can create more money by lending more than their reserves
    • The amount, set by the Fed, is the Require Ratio
    • RR gives the Fed control over how much money banks can create
Functions of the Federal Reserve Bank
  1. Control the money supply through monetary policy
  2. Issue paper money
  3. Serve as a clearing house for checks
  4. Regulate banking activities
  5. Serve as a bank for bankers
Balance sheet - statement of assets and claims summarizing the financial position of a firm/bank at some point in time
  • must balance at all times!
Assets

  • Own
  • Reserves (RR and ER)
  • Loans to firms, consumers, and other banks
  • Loans to the government
  • Bank property
Liabilities
  • Owe
  • Claims of non-owners
  • DD, CDs
  • Loans from the Fed and other banks
  • Shareholders equity
Reserve Requirement - ratio is 10% and is set by the Fed.
  • 100% reserve banking has no impact on the size of money supply
In a fractional banking system, BANKS CREATE MONEY!

Required Reserve Ration
  • % of DD that must be stored as federal reserve funds in the bank's account with Fed
  • RRR determines the money multiplier ( 1 / reserve ratio)
  • Increase in reserve ration, Decrease in rate of money creation = contractionary
Money Multiplier
  • shows the impact of a change in demand deposits on loans and eventually the money supply
  • indicates the total number of money created in the banking system by each $1 addition to the monetary base
4 Types of Multiple Deposit Expansion Questions
  1. Calculate the initial change in ER
  2. Calculate change in loans in a banking system
  3. Calculate change in money supply
  4. Calculate change in DD
Monetary Policy
  1. OMO (open market operations) - buy/sell bonds (securities)
    • preferred monetary tool because it is flexible
  2. RR - amount the bank has to keep
  3. Discount rate - interest charged by the Fed for overnight loans to commercial banks
Federal Fund Rate - interest charged by one commercial bank to another for overnight loans

Expansionary (MS increase / recession) 

  • OMO - buy bonds from the public
  • RR - decrease
  • DR - decrease
  • FFR - decrease
Contractionary (MS decrease / inflation)
  • OMO - sell bonds
  • RR - increase
  • DR - increase
  • FFR - increase
Loanable Funds Market
  • Market where savers and borrowers exchange funds at the real rate of interest
  • The demand for loanable funds/borrowing comes from households, firms, government, and the foreign sector
    • Demand for loanable funds = supply of bonds
  • Supply comes from households, firms, government, and foreign sector

Change in demand for LF
  • More borrowing = more demand (shift right)
  • Less borrowing = less demand (shift left)
Change in supply for LF
  • More saving = more supply of LF (shift right)
  • Less saving = less supply of LF (shift left)