Monetary Policy Flashcards
What do central banks routinely do? (3)
They extend liquidity to banks
They extend liquidity to banks
They impose compulsory reserves on commercial banks
What are some of the exceptional measures a central bank could resort to in circumstance of financial stress?
Lenders of last resort to commercial banks
They may resort to so-called ‘unconventional policies’
Main Refinancing Operations (MRO)
The ECB’s regular open market operations consist of one-week liquidity-providing operations in euro
Minimum reserve requirements
Reserve requirementrefers to a certain amount of money commercial banks must keep as reserves in their current accounts at their central bank.
The monetary transmission mechanism
the process through which a central bank’s monetary policy decisions affect the economy in general, and the ultimate target variables (price level, output, employment,…) in particular.
Fixed-Rate Full Allotment
As the interbank market dried up in autumn 2008, and banks could no longer rely on borrowing from each other, the ECB amended its approach and provided unlimited credit to banks at a fixed interest rate
What are the two possible stances of monetary policy?
Expansionary/loose/accommodative monetary policy: low policy rate
Restrictive/contractionary monetary policy: high policy rate
What are the key objectives of monetary policy?
Maintaining price stability
Promoting maximum (full) employment
Maintaining the stability of the financial system
Exchange-rate stability
Which other objective has emerged during the late 1980’s?
Inflation targeting
Which Keynesian-inspired conviction is represented by the Philips curve?
That price stability
as a goal of economic policy had to be offset against the effort to achieve full employment
and higher economic growth
What is stagflation?
A combination of inflation and high and
persistent unemployment
What is the dual mandate of the Fed?
Ensuring price stability and maximum employment
What is the FOMC?
The Federal Open-Market Committee is the most important decision-making body which consists of:
- seven members of the Board of Governors
- five chairman of Reserve Banks
What is the ESCB?
The European System of Central Banks, which constists of the ECB and the national central banks of the member states
What are “Open market operations”?
Open market operations are central bank’s purchases or sales of financial instruments (in the
secondary market) from or to a private bank or a group of banks
What is objective of “Open market Operations”?
Taking or giving liquidity
What are “Lending operations”?
Standing facilities aiming to provide or absorb liquidity with an overnight maturity
What are “Minimum reserve requirements”?
Reserve requirement refers to a certain amount of money commercial banks must keep as
reserves in their current accounts at their central bank.
What is objective of “Minimum reserve requirements”?
The aim of the minimum reserves is to stabilise the short-term (money market) interest
rates.
How is the objectove of “Minimum reserve requirements” achieved?
The aim of the minimum reserves is to stabilise the short-term (money market) interest
rates. A low (high) reserve requirement allows commercial banks to lend more (less) of their
deposits. It is expansionary (restrictive) because it creates (reduces) credit.
What are the requirements for an intermediate target?
Must be measurable
Subject to some degree of central bank control
Predictable effect on the ultimate policy objectives
Which are the various transmission channels?
- Interest rate channel
- Asset price channel
- Credit channel
- External channel
Which are the various transmission channels?
- Interest rate channel
- Asset price channel
- Credit channel
- External channel
How does monetary policy affect the economy through the “Interest rate channel”?
monetary policy affects a range of interest rates and this then
affects investment and consumption decisions of companies and households