43 | Fractional Reserve Banking
The financial system uses the base money to generate "deposit money," sometimes called "inside money," through a process of fractional reserve banking.
What is the real value of a dollar? You think that a dollar bill is money and that banks are where your cash is stored and safeguarded. Well, you’re wrong. Like, really wrong.
What do banks do with our deposits? You think that banks are where your cash is stored and safeguard and that a dollar bill is money. Well, you’re wrong. Like, really wrong.
Have you ever wondered why gold and silver were used as money? Why those specific metals over other commodities? This video answers these questions and outlines some of the basics of monetary economics.
Five reporters stumbled on what seems like a basic question: What is money? The unsettling answer they found: Money is fiction.
In this video, we show how the price system allows for people with dispersed knowledge and information about rose production to coordinate global economic activity.
Five reporters stumbled on what seems like a basic question: What is money? The unsettling answer they found: Money is fiction.
What do banks do with our deposits? You think that banks are where your cash is stored and safeguard and that a dollar bill is money. Well, you’re wrong. Like, really wrong.
What is the real value of a dollar? You think that a dollar bill is money and that banks are where your cash is stored and safeguarded. Well, you’re wrong. Like, really wrong.
Functions of Money - The Economic Lowdown Podcast Series, Episode 9
Money has taken many forms through the ages: shells, wheels, beads and even cows. All forms, though, have always had three things in common. Find out what in this eight-minute episode of our Economic Lowdown Podcast Series. You will also learn how commodity money differs from representative money and how both differ from today's fiat money.
One day it's profitable to recycle a bottle. The next day, some number in the global economy changes and that bottle suddenly becomes trash. The line between trash and recycling is moving a lot these days. For a bunch of reasons, it's a tough time to be a recycler.
Why should nature be taken into account when looking at the economy as a whole? A Bee's Invoice uncovers and incorporates the hidden value of natural capital in the measurement of our economy.
Three short stories about putting a price on something hard to value precisely. We go from $4.66 under a pillow all the way up to $1 trillion across every inch of highway in America
That may seem like a really simple question, but it’s actually kind of complicated. Paper bills and coins, or currency, is obviously money. But it doesn’t end there.
On a timeline of human history, the recent rise in standards of living resembles a hockey stick -- flatlining for all of human history and then skyrocketing in just the last few centuries.
Extreme poverty is defined as living at a consumption (or income) level below 1.90 "international $" per day. International $ are adjusted for price differences between countries and for price changes over time (inflation).
World population living in extreme poverty, 1820-2015
Extreme poverty is defined as living at a consumption (or income) level below 1.90 "international $" per day. International $ are adjusted for price differences between countries and for price changes over time (inflation).
Data obtained from: World Poverty in absolute numbers (Max Roser based on World Bank and Bourguignon and Morrisson (2002))The author Max Roser licensed this visualization under a CC BY-SA license. You are welcome to share but please refer to its source where you can find more information:
Website: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/world-population-in-extreme-poverty-absolute
A blog post on the division of labor, by Mike Munger.
A simple example of hamburgers being made at home versus at a restaurant can help illuminate the explosion of prosperity since the Industrial Revolution.
Have you ever wondered why gold and silver were used as money? Why those specific metals over other commodities? This video answers these questions and outlines some of the basics of monetary economics.
This article, from the Los Angeles Times, discusses recent events in the area of state regulatory laws.
Want to get paid for shampooing someone’s hair? In California, you may need to have at least nine months of experience and pass a licensing test overseen by the state barbering and cosmetology board, whose members include salon professionals.
This website provides some broad overview of the themes and ideas of Adam Smith's most famous work.
Follow the link to read a broad outline of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations
How did the economy get started? Meet Ugg, Glugg and Tugg, three enterprising cave men who accidentally invented trade, marketing and the base elements of the modern market economy.
You'll have the opportunity to learn more about fundamental ideas such as comparative advantage, increasing returns to scale, factor endowments, and arbitrage across borders. The consequences we discuss include the effects of offshoring, how trade has shaped the economies of China, Mexico, and Korea, when foreign direct investment is desirable, and the history of free trade and tariffs, among other topics.
Scratch almost any economist and you will find someone who is firmly committed to free trade and, most likely, someone who largely agrees with his colleagues who signed a 2006 Open Letter to President Bush and Congress organized by the Independent Institute--for whom I serve as a Senior Research Fellow--arguing that immigration, even of low-skill workers, is a net boon to the US economy.
Quick recap on the main economic justifications/reasons for countries to trade with one another for greater economic prosperity.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190.
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business, from 1–190. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. The rankings are determined by sorting the aggregate scores on 10 topics, each consisting of several indicators, giving equal weight to each topic. The rankings for all economies are benchmarked to May 2019. Read the methodology, explaining how the ease of doing business rankings and the ease of doing business scores are calculated (PDF), or download the ranking table (PDF).