Further insights on endogenous money and the liquidity preference theory of interest

Abstract

We present a simple stock-flow consistent (SFC) model to discuss some recent claims made by Angel Asensio in a paper published in this journal regarding the relationship between endogenous money theory and the liquidity preference theory of the rate of interest. We incorporate Asensio’s assumptions as far as possible and use simulation experiments to investigate his arguments regarding the presence of a crowding-out effect, the relationship between interest rates and credit demand, and the ability of the central bank to steer interest rates through varying the stock of money. We show that in a fully-specified SFC model, some of Asensio’s conclusions are not generally valid (most importantly, the presence of a crowding-out effect is ambiguous), and that in any case, his use of a non-SFC framework leads him to leave aside important mechanisms which can contribute to a better understanding of the behavior of interest rates. More generally, this paper once more demonstrates the utility of the SFC approach in research on monetary economics.     

Post Keynesian endogenous money theory: A theoretical and empirical investigation of the credit demand schedule

The article investigates the relationship between interest rates and loan amounts provided by commercial banks from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Theoretically, some scholars belonging to the post Keynesian endogenous money tradition advocate that a decrease (increase) in interest rates leads to a positive (negative) effect on the amount of loans demanded by households and firms. On the other hand, some heterodox economists maintain that interest rates do not stimulate firms’ credit demand but that a certain degree of influence is allowed for loans provided to households. By applying a vector autoregression (VAR) and vector error-correction model (VECM) methodology to European Central Bank and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development data for the eurozone, this article proposes an empirical validation of such theoretical premises by analysing the relationship between the different types of credit provided by commercial banks and the corresponding interest rates. The main results show a negative relationship between the interest rates and the credit provided for the purchase of houses. Conversely, no significant relationship is found between loans granted to enterprises and loans for the purchase of consumption goods and the corresponding interest rates.     

Rate of profit and interest in a growth theory with endogenous money

This paper attempts to incorporate an endogenous money approachinto post-Keynesian growth theory in order to derive the fullemployment equilibrium rate of interest as well as that of profit.This rate of interest, named the ideal rate of interest, differsfrom the rate of profit in that it is in proportion to a monetaryvariable, not a real variable. Further, the rate of profit alsodiffers from the rate of interest as a premium because it isproductive. The rate of interest could be important in explainingcircumstances in which financial capital has been accumulatedin excess.     

Keynes's theory of liquidity preference and his debt management and monetary policies

This paper seeks to bolster the view that Keynes was a monetaryeconomist concerned primarily with monetary and not fiscal policy.His most fundamental policy conclusion for national economieswas that the authorities could control the long-term rate ofinterest and should do so to promote investment, growth andemployment. Keynes's theory of liquidity preference is presentedas a theory of money as a store of value that leads to thisfundamental policy conclusion. The theory is then applied toexplain the debt management, monetary and international financialpolicies that were adopted in World War II.     

Understanding China’s monetary policy: an institutional perspective

Given China’s status as a large transitional economy, analysing the country’s monetary policy requires an understanding of the institutional and policy environment within which monetary policy operates. As China’s monetary policy has multiple objectives and the central bank is subordinate to the State Council in monetary policy decisions, addressing deep-rooted structural issues and improving governance and institutions are essential so that monetary policy can be more focused and effective. Confronted with the Impossible Trinity dilemma, China faces daunting challenges in tackling the inevitable policy choice between monetary autonomy and exchange rate control as its capital account increasingly liberalises. This article analyses China’s unique and evolving monetary policy framework from an institutional perspective and evaluates the challenges to monetary management and reforms. Relevant policy implications for monetary policy implementation are also discussed.     

Why does the velocity of money move pro‐cyclically?

The velocity of money usually rises in expansions and falls in recessions This paper explains this pro‐cyclical movement of velocity using two ideas: (i) during business cycles the movement of investment and consumption of durable goods has a larger amplitude than consumption of non‐durable goods and services; (ii) the velocity associated with expenditure on investment and durable goods is much higher than the velocity associated with consumption of non‐durable goods and services, because the former expenditures are synchronized with the attainment of money by economic agents whereas the latter are not. In this setting, the rise in the weight of expenditure in durable goods relative to the weight of non‐durable goods and services, which occurs during expansions, generates an increase in the average velocity of circulation. The opposite happens during recessions and thus velocity moves pro‐cyclically.     

Unconventional monetary policy,liquidity trap,and asset prices

This article offers a fundamental critique of monetary policy implemented in the United States following the 2007–8 global financial crisis. It aims to show that the misunderstanding of the mainstream theoretical thinking underlying monetary policy actions led to the ineffectiveness of the policy response to the 2007–8 global financial crisis. The conventional view that monetary policy is the stabilization tool has serious flaws and is ineffective for bringing about economic recovery. The Federal Reserve’s experiment with the so-called unconventional monetary policy exposed the weakness of the conventional belief in understanding how banks operate, how the monetary authority can influence the yield curve, and how the monetary transmission mechanism works, resulting in prescribing an ineffective treatment to boost economic activity. In this regard, it is argued that the Federal Reserve’s decision to let long-term interest rates be market determined represents a significant self-imposed constraint, which limits policy options regarding monetary policy actions and the effective control of long-term interest rates. By limiting the setting of policy rates only to the overnight interest rate, the ability of the monetary authority to influence long-term interest rates is both weak and indirect.     

“流动性过剩”研究综述（上）——流动性过剩的内涵、衡量标准及产生机制

近些年来,“流动性过剩”已成为中国乃至全球经济和金融运行中的一个较为突出的问题,并引起了社会各界广泛的关注与讨论。本文对这些代表性的文献进行系统的梳理,为进一步的研究提供参考。     

The nature and role of monetary policy when money is endogenous

This paper considers the nature and role of monetary policywhen money is modelled as credit money endogenously createdwithin the private sector. There are currently two schools ofthought that view money as endogenous: one has been labelledthe ‘new consensus’ in macroeconomics, and the otheris the Keynesian endogenous (bank) money approach. The paperfirst explores the analysis of monetary policy in the ‘newconsensus’ macroeconomic model, followed by an examinationof the effectiveness of monetary policy in that analysis. TheKeynesian view of endogenous money is discussed, and the rolefor monetary policy in a Keynesian endogenous monetary policyanalysis is considered, including discussion of the objectivesand instruments of monetary policy.     

货币政策中介目标选择的理论研究与实践

货币政策中介目标在货币政策传导机制中处于非常关键的位置,货币政策中介目标的选择在理论和实践中都是一个十分重要的问题。本文讨论了货币政策中介目标的选择标准,货币政策中介目标选择的理论,然后通过对国外中介目标选择实践的考察,分析了中国中介目标选择的理论争论和实践,最后讨论了一国货币政策中介目标的选择主要应考虑的几个因素。     

Monetary and banking policy transmission through interest rates: an empirical application to the USA,Canada, the UK and the Eurozone

The main purpose of this paper is an examination of the pass‐through interest rate transmission from the wholesale rates (central bank and/or money market rates) to the retail rates (deposit and lending rates) of the banking system. Knowledge of the transmission substantially helps us to calculate the pass‐through interest rate margin or mark‐up in the banking systems under examination (USA, Canada, the UK and the Eurozone). The selection of the wholesale interest rate is also an important part of this pass‐through transmission framework because it is related to the money supply process and therefore the central bank's policy capabilities. In the empirical part, a Johansen (1988) cointegration based error‐correction procedure (ECM‐GE) is implemented for the wholesale interest rate selection. Then an LSE–Hendry general‐to‐specific model (GETS) is applied, for the revelation of the banking sector pass‐through interest rate behaviour. In the empirical part, on the issue of the wholesale interest rate selection, the USA and the Eurozone seem to favour the Money Market rate while the UK and Canada favour the central bank policy rate. The results indicate two types of interest rate pass‐through behaviour, with market structure implication – namely, the US and UK banking systems contrasted with Canada–Eurozone.     

On the complementarity of money and credit

I propose a model where agents choose to conduct their business using two payment instruments, money and bilateral credit. A friction in the timing of transactions rationalizes the use of both instruments and makes it optimal for agents to use money as a means of settlement for credit. Money and credit complement each other. With anticipated inflation, complementarity implies that the credit to money ratio decreases with inflation.     

Monetary policy inertia reconsidered: Evidence from endogenous interest rate trajectory

By finding small forecastable variability of future policy rates by highly smoothed central bank's endogenous interest rate trajectory, I suggest that market's failure to predict large portion of variability in future rates does not always imply limited policy inertia.     

我国货币政策信贷渠道研究——基于贷款供给函数的再考察

货币政策信贷渠道是基于价格传导机制的放大效应,不能将其与信贷配给相混淆,而应理解为直接通过信贷供给的变动作用于实体经济的数量传导机制。运用CC-LM模型和贷款供给函数分析我国货币政策信贷渠道传导机制,并运用动态广义矩方法进一步估计我国货币政策贷款供给函数后得知:第一,虽然我国满足信贷渠道必须的金融摩擦条件,但是其所依附的价格传导机制并不畅通,无法放大货币政策的效果。第二,我国垄断性的银行业结构会影响货币政策的信贷传导机制。因此,未来的货币政策渠道将以规范化的利率渠道作为货币政策传导的主体,而信贷渠道应作为货币政策传导的辅助性机制存在。     

我国汇率政策对货币政策的制约性分析

自2005年7月21日我国实施汇率制度改革以来,我国继续出现贸易、资本双顺差,外汇储备持续高速增加使人民币升值压力继续存在。国外游资的大量涌入,使得我国银行体系出现“流动性过剩”,并凸显通货膨胀压力。央行采取了一系列货币政策措施,包括提高利率、提高法定准备金率、发行央行定向票据等,但是效果并不明显,目前我国流动性过剩问题依然严重,通胀压力仍然存在,货币政策的实施效果严重受到了汇率政策的制约。     

对我国货币政策中介目标的研究

货币供应量作为我国货币政策中介目标虽仍具备合理性,却面临一系列困难和障碍;同时,由于利率形成机制并不完善,利率暂时不能作为货币政策中介目标.目前我国应将货币供应量作为货币政策直接中介目标,而以利率作为辅助中介目标,发挥利率在货币政策体系中应有的作用.     

我国货币政策自主性的实证研究

基于货币目标区模型、货币政策反应方程以及外汇储备与基础货币之间的关系方程,对2005年7月汇改前后我国货币政策自主性变化情况进行的实证研究结果表明,汇改后我国的利率政策自主性较汇改前增强,但货币数量政策则由汇改前的具备自主性变为汇改后的缺乏自主性;在我国,通过增强汇率制度弹性以提高利率政策自主性是可行的,但对货币数量政策并不成立。研究结果还表明,我国应以利率作为货币政策中介目标。     

Rethinking liquidity creation: Banks,shadow banks and the elasticity of finance

In this article, the authors use the concept of the hierarchy of money found in the works of Minsky (2008 Minsky, H. [1986]2008. Stabilizing an Unstable Economy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. [Google Scholar][1986]), Foley (1987 Foley, D. 1987. “Money in Economic Activity.” In The New Palgrave: Money, edited by J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman, 519–525. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), Wray (1990 Wray, L. R. 1990. Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies: The Endogenous Money Approach. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar. [Google Scholar]), and Bell (2001 Bell, S. 2001. “The Role of the State and the Hierarchy of Money.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 25 (2):149–63.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to analyze the process of liquidity creation in modern capitalist economies where shadow banks play an active role. They abandon the narrow focus on banks as the creators of money as well as the idea that nonbank financial institutions are mere intermediaries between savers and borrowers. Instead, the authors demonstrate that, similar to banks, nonbank financial institutions and foreign banks (through their cross-border activities) create liquidity endogenously by leveraging over the liabilities of entities hierarchically above them. The authors further elucidate Kregel’s concept of “fictitious” liquidity in the context of the hierarchy of financial liabilities, distinguishing it from “true” liquidity. By bringing shadow banks and the euro-currency markets into to the pyramid of financial liabilities, they develop a more complete framework of liquidity creation in modern capitalist economies. Their “extended” pyramid is useful for analyzing not only the fragility that may arise from the interactions between firms, households and banks, but also that which may originate through the interactions between banks, shadow banks and foreign banks.     

The role of the state and the hierarchy of money

This paper uses Minsky's definition of money as a two-sidedbalance sheet phenomenon to challenge many common positionson the nature, evolution and role of money. His definition isapplied to two opposing theories in the history of monetarydebates, and it is shown that the Chartalists (as opposed tothe Metallists) developed a general theory of money that canbe applied equally convincingly to the entire era of state money.This theory is then used to show that the state's power to makeand enforce tax laws renders its money the most acceptable formof debt within what can be considered a 'hierarchy' of monies.This leads to some important policy implications as well asa strengthening of the endogenous money position.     

当前我国"负利率"现状及货币政策选择

在当前的宏观经济形势下,我国的负利率对居民消费和储蓄、企业投资、商业银行的经营管理和资本市场等具有不同影响。综合考虑这些影响,央行目前不宜提高名义利率,而应该提高宏观经济调控水平,确保经济能够长期健康发展。