Instructor’s Manual for Macroeconomics, Fourth Canadian Edition
of pre-paid phone cards, and other forms of smart card technology. Students are also
likely to discuss the existence of credit cards and the ever more sophisticated ways to use
credit cards and protect against fraud. As one example, there is the use of credit cards to
pay for purchases over the Internet. In discussing these possibilities, it is also important to
distinguish payments technology from the proper measurement of the money supply. For
example, it is important to distinguish between payment arrangements that are uses of
credit, like the use of credit cards, from uses of money, like cash and transaction deposits.
In understanding the economy’s transactions demand for money, it might help students to
think of their own demand for money. Most of us carry money. How do you determine
how much to carry with you and how much to invest or save?
The amount of money an individual carries depends on daily expenses, income, the
probability of extra expenses, and the difficulty of obtaining extra money when needed.
The college student who lives in a campus residence and whose meals in the residence
dining room are part of his room payment has few daily cash expenses. The woman who
sits next to him in class may commute to campus and buy her lunch at the local
OUTLINE
1. Functions of Money
2. Measuring the Money Supply
a) The Monetary Base
i) Currency Outside of the Bank of Canada
ii) Deposits of Financial Institutions with the Bank of Canada