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Monetary policy can be either expansive for the economy (short-term rates low relative to the inflation rate) or restrictive for the economy (short-term rates high relative to the inflation rate). Historically, the major objective of monetary policy had been to use these policy instruments to manage or curb domestic inflation.
The different types of policy are also called monetary regimes, in parallel to exchange-rate regimes. A fixed exchange rate is also an exchange-rate regime. The gold standard results in a relatively fixed regime towards the currency of other countries following a gold standard and a floating regime towards those that are not.
Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership, interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form of currency (forex); debt (bonds, loans); equity (); or derivatives (options, futures, forwards).
In macroeconomics, an open market operation (OMO) is an activity by a central bank to exchange liquidity in its currency with a bank or a group of banks. The central bank can either transact government bonds and other financial assets in the open market or enter into a repurchase agreement or secured lending transaction with a commercial bank.
To achieve these goals, governments use policy tools which are under the control of the government. These generally include the interest rate and money supply , tax and government spending, tariffs, exchange rates , labor market regulations, and many other aspects of government.
Economists employ different ways to measure the stock of money or money supply, reflected in different types of monetary aggregates, using a categorization system that focuses on the liquidity of the financial instrument used as money. The most commonly used monetary aggregates (or types of money) are conventionally designated M1, M2, and M3.
The alternative to a commodity money system is fiat money which is defined by a central bank and government law as legal tender even if it has no intrinsic value. Originally fiat money was paper currency or base metal coinage, but in modern economies it mainly exists as data such as bank balances and records of credit or debit card purchases, [3] and the fraction that exists as notes and coins ...
Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions ( as medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account), and it considers how money can gain acceptance purely because of its convenience as a public good. [1]