MEETING THE CHALLENGE: CREATING A SUCCESSFUL CENTRAL BANK
The boom in the past decade with its associated decrease in volatility may have happened because
technology sparked a boom just as central banks became better at their jobs.
Currency in the hands of the public and the reserves of the banking system are the two
components of the monetary base, also called high-powered money.
Bank Reserves = Vault Cash plus Deposits at the central bank
The central bank can control the size of the monetary base and therefore the quantity of money
TARGET FEDERAL FUNDS RATE AND OPEN MARKET OPERATION
The central bank chooses to control the federal funds rate by manipulating the quantity of reserves
through open market operations: the central bank buys or sells securities to add or drain reserves as
required.
Every country with high inflation has high money growth; thus to avoid sustained episodes of high
inflation, a central bank must be concerned with money growth.
It is impossible to have high, sustained inflation without monetary accommodation.
To ensure that deviations of inflation from the target are only temporary, monetary
policymakers respond to change in inflation by changing the real interest rate in the same
direction.
The aggregate supply curve tells us where on the aggregate demand curve the economy will end up,
explaining the relationship between inflation and real output in the process.
The short run aggregate supply curve tells us where the economy will settle at any particular time