1. Money Demand and the Equilibrium Interest Rate
Lecture 7
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Interest Rates and Bond Prices
The Demand for Money
The Transaction Motive
The Speculation Motive
The Total Demand for Money
The Effect of Nominal Income on the Demand for Money
The Equilibrium Interest Rate
Supply and Demand in the Money Market
Changing the Money Supply to Affect the Interest Rate
Increases in P • Y and Shifts in the Money Demand Curve
Zero Interest Rate Bound
Looking Ahead: The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy
Appendix A: The Various Interest Rates in the U.S. Economy
Appendix B: The Demand for Money: A Numerical Example

2. Interest Rates and Bond Prices
interest The fee that borrowers pay to lenders for the use of their funds.
Firms and governments borrow funds by issuing bonds, and they pay interest to the lenders that purchase the bonds.
When interest rates rise, the prices of existing bonds fall.

3. The Demand for Money
When we speak of the demand for money, we are concerned with how much of your financial assets you want to hold in the form of money, which does not earn interest, versus how much you want to hold in interest-bearing securities such as bonds.
The Transaction Motive
transaction motive The main reason that people hold money—to buy things.
nonsynchronization of income and spending The mismatch between the timing of money inflow to the household and the timing of money outflow for household expenses.

4. The Demand for Money The Transaction Motive
 FIGURE The Nonsynchronization of Income and Spending
Income arrives only once a month, but spending takes place continuously.

5. The Demand for Money The Transaction Motive
 FIGURE Jim’s Monthly Checking Account Balances: Strategy 1
Jim could decide to deposit his entire paycheck ($1,200) into his checking account at the start of the month and run his balance down to zero by the end of the month.
In this case, his average balance would be $600.

6. The Demand for Money The Transaction Motive
 FIGURE Jim’s Monthly Checking Account Balances: Strategy 2
Jim could also choose to put half of his paycheck into his checking account and buy a bond with the other half of his income.
At midmonth, Jim would sell the bond and deposit the $600 into his checking account to pay the second half of the month’s bills.
Following this strategy, Jim’s average money holdings would be $300.
The Transaction Motive

7. The Demand for Money The Transaction Motive
 FIGURE The Demand Curve for Money Balances
The quantity of money demanded (the amount of money households and firms want to hold) is a function of the interest rate.
Because the interest rate is the opportunity cost of holding money balances, increases in the interest rate reduce the quantity of money that firms and households want to hold and decreases in the interest rate increase the quantity of money that firms and households want to hold.

8. The Demand for Money The Speculation Motive
speculation motive One reason for holding bonds instead of money: Because the market price of interest-bearing bonds is inversely related to the interest rate, investors may want to hold bonds when interest rates are high with the hope of selling them when interest rates fall.

9. The Demand for Money The Total Demand for Money
The total quantity of money demanded in the economy is the sum of the demand for checking account balances and cash by both households and firms.
At any given moment, there is a demand for money—for cash and checking account balances. Although households and firms need to hold balances for everyday transactions, their demand has a limit.
For both households and firms, the quantity of money demanded at any moment depends on the opportunity cost of holding money, a cost determined by the interest rate.

10. ATMs and the Demand for Money
E C O N O M I C S I N P R A C T I C E
ATMs and the Demand for Money
Italy makes a great case study of the effects of the spread of ATMs on the demand for money. In Italy, virtually all checking accounts pay interest. What doesn’t pay interest is cash.
The study found that the demand for cash responds to changes in the interest rate paid on checking accounts. The higher the interest rate, the less cash held.
In other words, when the interest rate on checking accounts rises, people go to ATM machines more often and take out less in cash each time, thereby keeping, on average, more in checking accounts earning the higher interest rate.

11. The Demand for Money
The Effect of Nominal Income on the Demand for Money
 FIGURE An Increase in Nominal Aggregate Output (Income) (P •Y) Shifts the Money Demand Curve to the Right

12. The Demand for Money
The Effect of Nominal Income on the Demand for Money
The demand for money depends negatively on the interest rate, r, and positively on real income, Y, and the price level, P.
TABLE Determinants of Money Demand 1.
The interest rate: r (The quantity of money demanded is a negative function of the interest rate.) 2.
Aggregate nominal output (income) P • Y
a. Real aggregate output (income): Y (An increase in Y shifts the money demand curve to the right.)
b. The aggregate price level: P (An increase in P shifts the money demand curve to the right.)

13. The Equilibrium Interest Rate
We are now in a position to consider one of the key questions in macroeconomics: How is the interest rate determined in the economy?
The point at which the quantity of money demanded equals the quantity of money supplied determines the equilibrium interest rate in the economy.

14. The Equilibrium Interest Rate
Supply and Demand in the Money Market
 FIGURE Adjustments in the Money Market
Equilibrium exists in the money market when the supply of money is equal to the demand for money and thus when the supply of bonds is equal to the demand for bonds.
At r0 the price of bonds would be bid up (and thus the interest rate down).
At r1 the price of bonds would be bid down (and thus the interest rate up).

15. The Equilibrium Interest Rate
Changing the Money Supply to Affect the Interest Rate
 FIGURE The Effect of an Increase in the Supply of Money on the Interest Rate
An increase in the supply of money from MS0 to MS1 lowers the rate of interest from 7 percent to 4 percent.

16. The Equilibrium Interest Rate
Increases in P • Y and Shifts in the Money Demand Curve
 FIGURE The Effect of an Increase in Nominal Income (P • Y) on the Interest Rate
An increase in nominal income (P • Y) shifts the money demand curve from Md0 to Md1, which raises the equilibrium interest rate from 4 percent to 7 percent.

17. The Equilibrium Interest Rate
Zero Interest Rate Bound
By the middle of 2008 the Fed had driven the short-term interest rate close to zero, and it remained at essentially zero through the middle of 2010.
The Fed does this, of course, by increasing the money supply until the intersection of the money supply at the demand for money curve is at an interest rate of roughly zero.
The Fed cannot drive the interest rate lower than zero, preventing it from stimulating the economy further.

18. Looking Ahead: The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy
tight monetary policy Fed policies that contract the money supply and thus raise interest rates in an effort to restrain the economy.
easy monetary policy Fed policies that expand the money supply and thus lower interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy.

19. R E V I E W T E R M S A N D C O N C E P T S
easy monetary policy
interest
nonsynchronization of income and spending
speculation motive
tight monetary policy
transaction motive