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Chapter 34 – Money, Banking, and Financial Institutions
21e McConnell Brue Flynn
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What are the three basic functions of money? Describe how rapid inflation can undermine
money’s ability to perform each of the three functions. LO1
Answer: Money is used as a medium of exchange for goods and services, as a unit of
account for expressing price, and as a store of value.
2. Which two of the following financial institutions offer checkable deposits included within the
M1 money supply: mutual fund companies; insurance companies; commercial banks; securities
firms; thrift institutions? Which of the following items is not included in either M1 or M2:
currency held by the public; checkable deposits; money market mutual fund balances; small-
denominated (less than $100,000) time deposits; currency held by banks; savings deposits? LO2
3. What are the components of the M1 money supply? What is the largest component? Which of
the components of M1 is legal tender? Why is the face value of a coin greater than its intrinsic
value? What near-monies are included in the M2 money supply? LO2
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4. Explain and evaluate the following statements: LO2
a. The invention of money is one of the great achievements of humankind, for without it the
enrichment that comes from broadening trade would have been impossible.
b. Money is whatever society says it is.
c. In the United States, the debts of government and commercial banks are used as money.
d. People often say they would like to have more money, but what they usually mean is that they
would like to have more goods and services.
e. When the price of everything goes up, it is not because everything is worth more but because
the currency is worth less.
f. Any central bank can create money; the trick is to create enough, but not too much, of it.
Chapter 34 – Money, Banking, and Financial Institutions
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e. The statement is accurate. If the price of one thing goes up relative to another, it is fair
to claim that it has become more valuable, but if the price of everything rises, it means
that the currency has less purchasing power (i.e. is worth less).
f. The most important function of the Federal Reserve (or any central bank) is to manage
the nation’s money supply and thus interest rates. This involves making an amount of
money available that is consistent with high and rising levels of output and employment
and a relatively constant price level.
5. What “backs” the money supply in the United States? What determines the value (domestic
purchasing power) of money? How does the purchasing power of money relate to the price level?
Who in the United States is responsible for maintaining money’s purchasing power? LO3
Answer: There is no concrete backing to the money supply in the United States. Paper
money, which has no intrinsic value, has value only because people are willing to accept
6. How is the chairperson of the Federal Reserve System selected? Describe the relationship
between the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the 12 Federal Reserve
Banks. What is the purpose of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)? What is its
makeup? LO4
Answer: The members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve are selected by
the U.S. president and confirmed by the Senate. The seven board members have long
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7. The following are two hypothetical ways in which the Federal Reserve Board might be
appointed. Would you favor either of these two methods over the present method? Why or why
not? LO4
a. Upon taking office, the U.S. president appoints seven people to the Federal Reserve Board,
including a chair. Each appointee must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate, and each
serves the same 4-year term as the president.
b. Congress selects seven members from its ranks (four from the House of Representatives and
three from the Senate) to serve at Congressional pleasure as the Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System.
Answer: In the opinion of most economists, the Fed should be protected from political
8. What is meant when economists say that the Federal Reserve Banks are central banks, quasi–
public banks, and bankers’ banks? LO4
9. Why do economists nearly uniformly support an independent Fed rather than one beholden
directly to either the President or Congress? LO5
Answer: The objective is to protect the Fed from political pressures so that it can
Chapter 34 – Money, Banking, and Financial Institutions
10. Identify three functions of the Federal Reserve of your choice, other than its main role of
controlling the supply of money. LO5
11. How do each of the following relate to the financial crisis of 2007-2008: declines in real
estate values, subprime mortgage loans, mortgage backed securities, AIG. LO6
Answer: Prior to the 2007-2008 financial crisis the banking institutions issued a large
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12. What is TARP and how was it funded? What is meant by the term “lender of last resort” and
how does it relate to the financial crisis of 2007-2008? How do government and Federal Reserve
emergency loans relate to the concept of moral hazard? LO7
13. What are the major categories of firms that make up the U.S. financial services industry? Are
there more or fewer banks today than before the start of the financial crisis of 2007-2008? Why
are the lines between the categories of financial firms even more blurred than they were before
the crisis? How did the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 try to address
some of the problems that helped cause the crisis? LO8
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14. LAST WORD A firm enters bankruptcy when it misses a debt payment. So does being
insolvent imply being bankrupt? Explain. And why is the Fed reluctant to distinguish between
solvent and insolvent firms during a financial crisis?
Answer:
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. The three functions of money are: LO1
a. Liquidity, store of value, and gifting.
b. Medium of exchange, unit of account, and liquidity.
c. Liquidity, unit of account, and gifting.
d. Medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value.
2. Suppose that a small country currently has $4 million of currency in circulation, $6 million of
checkable deposits, $200 million of savings deposits, $40 million of small denominated time
deposits, and $30 million of money market mutual fund deposits. From these numbers we see that
this small country’s M1 money supply is ____________, while ____________ its M2 money
supply is. LO2
a. $10 million; $280 million.
b. $10 million; $270 million.
c. $210 million; $280 million.
d. $250 million; $270 million.
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3. Recall the formula that states that $V = 1/P, where V is the value of the dollar and P is the price
level. If the price level falls from 1 to 0.75, what will happen to the value of the dollar? LO3
a. It will rise by a third (33.3 percent).
b. It will rise by a quarter (25 percent).
c. It will fall by a quarter (-25 percent).
d. It will fall by a third (-33.3 percent).
4. Which group votes on the open-market operations that are used to control the U.S. money
supply and interest rates? LO4
a. The Federal Reserve System.
b. The 12 Federal Reserve Banks.
c. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
d. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).
5. An important reason why members of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors are each
given extremely long, 14-year terms is to: LO4
a. Insulate members from political pressures that could result in inflation.
b. Help older members avoid job searches before retiring.
c. Attract younger people with lots of time left in their careers.
d. Avoid the trouble of constantly having to deal with new members.
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6. Which of the following is not a function of the Fed? LO5
a. Setting reserve requirements for banks.
b. Advising Congress on fiscal policy.
c. Regulating the supply of money.
d. Serving as a lender of last resort.
7. James borrows $300,000 for a home from Bank A. Bank A resells the right to collect on that
loan to Bank B. Bank B securitizes that loan with hundreds of others and sells the resulting
security to a state pension plan, which at the same time purchases an insurance policy from AIG
that will pay off if James and the other people whose mortgages are in the security can’t pay off
their mortgage loans. Suppose that James and all the other people can’t pay off their mortgages.
Which financial entity is legally obligated to suffer the loss? LO6
a. Bank A.
b. Bank B.
c. The state pension plan.
d. AIG.
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consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Feedback: Because it sold loan-default insurance to the pension plan, AIG will have to
suffer the loss when James and the other mortgage borrowers can’t pay off their
mortgages. During the financial crisis, the insurance company AIG was overwhelmed
with claims on the many “collateralized default swaps” that it had sold as insurance on
mortgage securities. When the housing bubble burst and millions of mortgages went into
default simultaneously, AIG didn’t have enough money to pay off on all of the mortgage
insurance policies that it had sold. This caused chaos in the financial markets because if
AIG couldn’t pay off on its insurance obligations, then the financial firms that had bought
insurance from it were going to have to suffer the losses. But they had not bothered to set
aside any money to cover losses because they thought that they didn’t have to worry
about losses because they had bought insurance from AIG. As a result, those financial
firms were themselves about to go bankrupt because AIG couldn’t pay off on the
insurance policies that it had sold. The financial world was thus looking like a bunch of
dominos ready to knock each other over one by one. If AIG failed, those who had bought
insurance from it would fail. And if they failed, they would knock over other firms to
whom they in turn owed money, and so on. To stop that whole process from happening,
the government bailed out AIG so that it could pay out on its insurance obligations.
8. City Bank is considering making a $50 million loan to a company named SheetOil that wants
to commercialize a process for turning used blankets, pillowcases, and sheets into oil. This
company’s chances for success are dubious, but City Bank makes the loan anyway because it
believes that the government will bail it out if SheetOil goes bankrupt and cannot repay the loan.
City Bank’s decision to make the loan has been affected by: LO7
a. Liquidity.
b. Moral hazard.
c. Token money.
d. Securitization.
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9. True or False: The financial crisis hastened the ongoing process in which the financial services
industry was transforming from having a few large firms to many small firms. LO8
PROBLEMS
1. Assume that the following asset values (in millions of dollars) exist in Ironmania: Federal
Reserve Notes in circulation = $700; Money market mutual funds (MMMFs) held by individuals
= $400; Corporate bonds = $300; Iron ore deposits = $50; Currency in commercial banks = $100;
Savings deposits, including money market deposit accounts (MMDAs) = $140; Checkable
deposits = $1500 ; Small-denominated (less than $100,000) time deposits = $100; Coins in
circulation = $40. LO1
a. What is M1 in Ironmania?
b. What is M2 in Ironmania?
2. Assume that Jimmy Cash has $2,000 in his checking account at Folsom Bank and uses his
checking account card to withdraw $200 of cash from the bank’s ATM machine. By what dollar
amount did the M1 money supply change as a result of this single, isolated transaction? LO2
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3. Suppose the price level and value of the U.S. dollar in year 1 are 1 and $1, respectively. If the
price level rises to 1.25 in year 2, what is the new value of the dollar? If, instead, the price level
falls to .50, what is the value of the dollar? LO3
4. Assume that securitization combined with borrowing and irrational exuberance in Hyperville
have driven up the value of existing financial securities at a geometric rate, specifically from $2
to $4 to $8 to $16 to $32 to $64 over a 6-year time period. Over the same period, the value of the
assets underlying the securities rose at an arithmetic rate from $2 to $3 to $4 to $5 to $6 to $7. If
these patterns hold for decreases as well as for increases, by how much would the value of the
financial securities decline if the value of the underlying asset suddenly and unexpectedly fell by
$5? LO6
5. Suppose that Lady Gaga goes to Las Vegas to play poker and at the last minute her record
company says it will reimburse her for 50 percent of any gambling losses that she incurs. Will
Lady Gaga wager more or less as a result of the reimbursement offer? What economic concept
does your answer illustrate? LO7