Monetary Base - Explained
What is a Monetary Base?
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 23rd, 2024
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What is a Monetary Base?
The money base of a country refers to the total amount of currency that is in circulation or held in the central banks reserves. It is a term used in economics to describe the quantity of money or currency held in the hands of the public or as commercial bank deposits. The monetary base captures the total banknotes and coins.
What makes up the Monetary Base?
It is noteworthy to state that the monetary base only captures the most liquid currencies of a country, that is, the total amount of money (banknotes and coins) that are available for immediate use. While some of these banknotes and coins are in general circulation held by the public, some are held in the central banks reserves as bank deposits. The monetary base of a country can expand from time to time, given that the Federal Reserve can produce additional currency for public circulation or create new funds for bond purchases.
Monetary Base and the Money Supply
While the monetary base only accounts for the most liquid form of a country's currency such as banknotes and coins, money supply captures a broader perspective. The money supply represents the totality of a country's monetary base, including other assets in its less liquid forms. To adequately capture the variety of assets, the money supply is categorized into M0, M1, M2, M3 or M4. The total amount of funds in the monetary base is reported under the lower levels of the money supply. Hence, the distinguishing factor between the monetary base of a country and the money supply is that while the former accounts for the most liquid assets available for immediate use in a country, the latter accounts for the totality of a countrys assets, including the less liquid ones.
Managing Monetary Bases
The monetary base of every country is managed or overseen by the country's central bank. The central bank has the duty to expand (increase) or contract (reduce) the monetary base given the peculiarities of the present economic situation. Through adequate monetary policies, the central bank effectively manages the monetary base. In many countries, the open market operations through which the government buys and sells bonds can be used to maintain the desired level of the monetary base.
Smaller Scale Monetary Bases and Money Supplies
The monetary base in its broadest perspective captures the entirety of currency available for immediate use in an economy, this includes banknotes and coins and commercial bank deposits held in central bank's reserves. The money supply captures all the assets, both liquid and less liquid assets owned by a country. The smaller scale of the monetary base applies to the household. It captures the total amount of money (banknotes and coins) in the possession of a particular household. Funds held in deposit accounts are also included in the monetary base. The money supply of a household on the other hand, includes available credit, unused lines of credits and other funds not physically held by the household.
Related Topics
- Legal Tender
- Numismatics
- Gresham's Law
- Barter
- Double Coincidence of Wants
- Parity
- Functions of Money
- Medium of Exchange
- Unit of Account
- Store of Value
- Time Value of Money
- Standard of Deferred Payment
- Liquidity Preference Theory
- National Savings and Investment Identity
- Circular Flow of Money
- Commodity Money
- Gold Exchange Standard
- Bretton Woods System
- Fiat Money
- Money Supply
- M1 and M2 Money Supply
- Monetary Base
- Savings, Demand, and Time Deposits
- Banks
- How Do Banks Create Money?
- Financial Intermediary
- Bank Balance Sheet
- Money Multiplier Formula
- Velocity of Money
- Multiplier Effect
- Quantity Equation of Money
- McCallum Rule
- Neutrality of Money
- Real Bills Theory
- Banking System?
- Central Bank
- Federal Reserve System
- Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)
- Fed Balance Sheet
- Term Auction Facility
- Taylor Rule
- How is the Federal Reserve Bank Organized?
- What is Bank Regulation?
- CAMELS Rating
- FDIC
- CFPB
- Bank Supervision
- Bank Runs
- What is Deposit Insurance?
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Lender of Last Resort
- Central Banks Carry Out Monetary Policy
- Open Market Operations
- Bank Reserve
- Discount Rate
- Federal Funds Rate
- Monetary Policy
- Contractionary and Expansionary Monetary Policy
- Loose vs Tight Monetary Policy
- Easy Monetary Policy
- Accommodative Monetary Policy
- Dove & Hawk (Monetary Policy) - Explained
- Tight Monetary Policy - Explained
- Stabilization Policy
- Pushing on a String
- The Effect of Monetary Policy on Interest Rates
- Federal Funds Rate
- Gibson Paradox
- Vasicek Interest Rate Model
- Equation of Exchange (Economics)
- The Effect of Monetary Policy on Aggregate Demand
- Quantitative Easing
- Reserve Currency
- What are Excess Reserves?
- Unpredictable Movements of Velocity
- Central Banks - Unemployment and Inflation
- Inflation Targeting
- Fisher Effect
- Asset Bubbles and Leverage Cycles
- Countercyclical
- Money Capital Market
- Quantity Theory of Money
- Aggregate Expenditure Model
- IS-LM Model
- European Capital Market Institute