The Economics of Money, Banking, and

Financial Markets
Twelfth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 5
The Behavior of Interest
Rates

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Preview
• In this chapter, we examine how the overall level of
nominal interest rates is determined and which factors
influence their behavior.

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Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
• Identify the factors that affect the demand for assets.
• Draw the demand and supply curves for the bond market
and identify the equilibrium interest rate.
• List and describe the factors that affect the equilibrium
interest rate in the bond market.

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Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
• Describe the connection between the bond market and the
money market through the liquidity preference framework.
• List and describe the factors that affect the money market
and the equilibrium interest rate.
• Identify and illustrate the effects on the interest rate of
changes in money growth over time.

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Determinants of Asset Demand (1 of 2)
• Economic agents hold a variety of different assets. What
are the primary assets you hold?
• An asset is anything that can be owned and has value.

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Determinants of Asset Demand (2 of 2)
• Wealth: the total resources owned by the individual,
including all assets
• Expected Return: the return expected over the next
period on one asset relative to alternative assets
• Risk: the degree of uncertainty associated with the return
on one asset relative to alternative assets
• Liquidity: the ease and speed with which an asset can be
turned into cash relative to alternative assets

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Theory of Portfolio Choice (1 of 2)
Holding all other factors constant:
1. The quantity demanded of an asset is positively
related to wealth
2. The quantity demanded of an asset is positively
related to its expected return relative to alternative
assets
3. The quantity demanded of an asset is negatively
related to the risk of its returns relative to alternative
assets
4. The quantity demanded of an asset is positively
related to its liquidity relative to alternative assets
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Theory of Portfolio Choice (2 of 2)
Summary Table 1
Response of the Quantity of an Asset Demanded to Changes in Wealth,
Expected Returns, Risk, and Liquidity
Variable Change in Variable Change in Quantity
Demanded
Wealth ↑ ↑
Expected return relative to other assets ↑ ↑
Risk relative to other assets ↑ ↓
Liquidity relative to other assets ↑ ↑

Note: Only increases in the variables are shown. The effects of decreases in the variables on the quantity demanded
would be the opposite of those indicated in the rightmost column.

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Supply and Demand in the Bond Market
• At lower prices (higher interest rates), ceteris paribus, the
quantity demanded of bonds is higher: an inverse
relationship
• At lower prices (higher interest rates), ceteris paribus, the
quantity supplied of bonds is lower: a positive relationship

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The Relationship between Bond Prices and
Interest Rate
• The yield to maturity of a discounted bond is

−
=

• The yield to maturity of a consol/perpetuity bond is

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Figure 1 Supply and Demand for Bonds

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Market Equilibrium
• Occurs when the amount that people are willing to buy
(demand) equals the amount that people are willing to sell
(supply) at a given price.
• Bd = Bs defines the equilibrium (or market clearing) price
and interest rate.
• When Bd > Bs , there is excess demand, price will rise and
interest rate will fall.
• When Bd < Bs , there is excess supply, price will fall and
interest rate will rise.

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Changes in Equilibrium Interest Rates
• Shifts in the demand for bonds:
– Wealth: in an expansion with growing wealth, the demand
curve for bonds shifts to the right
– Expected Returns: higher expected interest rates in the
future lower the expected return for long-term bonds,
shifting the demand curve to the left
– Expected Inflation: an increase in the expected rate of
inflations lowers the expected return for bonds, causing the
demand curve to shift to the left
– Risk: an increase in the riskiness of bonds causes the
demand curve to shift to the left
– Liquidity: increased liquidity of bonds results in the demand
curve shifting right
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Figure 2 Shift in the Demand Curve for
Bonds

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 Shifts in the
Demand for
Bonds
Summary Table 2

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Shifts in the Supply of Bonds (1 of 2)
• Shifts in the supply for bonds:
– Expected profitability of investment opportunities: in an
expansion, the supply curve shifts to the right
– Expected inflation: an increase in expected inflation
shifts the supply curve for bonds to the right
– Government budget: increased budget deficits shift the
supply curve to the right

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Shifts in the Supply
of Bonds (2 of 2)

Summary Table 3

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Figure 3 Shift in the Supply Curve for Bonds

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Figure 4 Response to a Change in Expected
Inflation

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Figure 5 Expected Inflation and Interest Rates
(Three-Month Treasury Bills), 1953–2017

Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TB3M;

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL.S. Expected inflation calculated using procedures outlined in Frederic S.
Mishkin, “The Real Interest Rate: An EmpiricalInvestigation,” Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy 15
(1981): 151–200. These procedures involve estimating expected inflation as a function of past interest rates, inflation, and
time trends.

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Figure 6 Response to a Business Cycle
Expansion

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Figure 7 Business Cycle and Interest Rates
(Three-Month Treasury Bills), 1951–2017

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TB3MS

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Supply and Demand in the Market for Money:
The Liquidity Preference Framework (1 of 2)
Keynesian model that determines the equilibrium interest
rate in terms of the supply of and demand for money.
There are two main categories of assets that people use to
store their wealth: money and bonds.
Total wealth in the economy = Bs + Ms = Bd+ Md
Rearranging: Bs − Bd = Ms − Md
If the market for money is in equilibrium (Ms = Md ),
then the bond market is also in equilibrium (Bs = Bd ).

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Figure 8 Equilibrium in the Market for
Money

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Supply and Demand in the Market for Money:
The Liquidity Preference Framework (2 of 2)
• Demand for money in the liquidity preference framework:
– As the interest rate increases:
 The opportunity cost of holding money increases…
 The relative expected return of money decreases…
– …and therefore the quantity demanded of money
decreases.

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Changes in Equilibrium Interest Rates in
the Liquidity Preference Framework (1 of 3)
• Shifts in the demand for money:
– Income Effect: a higher level of income causes the
demand for money at each interest rate to increase
and the demand curve to shift to the right
 The rises in income cause wealth to increase
 People need to carry out more transactions
– Price-Level Effect: a rise in the price level causes the
demand for money at each interest rate to increase
and the demand curve to shift to the right
 People care about their money of holding in real
terms
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Changes in Equilibrium Interest Rates in
the Liquidity Preference Framework (2 of 3)
• Shifts in the supply of money:
– Assume that the supply of money is controlled by the
central bank.
– An increase in the money supply engineered by the
Federal Reserve will shift the supply curve for money
to the right.

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Changes in Equilibrium Interest Rates in
the Liquidity Preference Framework (3 of 3)
Summary Table 4

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Figure 9 Response to a Change in Income or
the Price Level

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Figure 10 Response to a Change in the
Money Supply

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Money and Interest Rates
• A one time increase in the money supply will cause prices
to rise to a permanently higher level by the end of the year.
The interest rate will rise via the increased prices.
• Price-level effect remains even after prices have stopped
rising.
• A rising price level will raise interest rates because people
will expect inflation to be higher over the course of the
year. When the price level stops rising, expectations of
inflation will return to zero.
• Expected-inflation effect persists only as long as the
price level continues to rise.
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Does a Higher Rate of Growth of the Money
Supply Lower Interest Rates? (1 of 2)
• Liquidity preference framework leads to the conclusion that
an increase in the money supply will lower interest rates:
the liquidity effect.
• Income effect finds interest rates rising because increasing
the money supply is an expansionary influence on the
economy (the demand curve shifts to the right).

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Does a Higher Rate of Growth of the Money
Supply Lower Interest Rates? (2 of 2)
• Price-Level effect predicts an increase in the money
supply leads to a rise in interest rates in response to the
rise in the price level (the demand curve shifts to the right).
• Expected-Inflation effect shows an increase in interest
rates because an increase in the money supply may lead
people to expect a higher price level in the future (the
demand curve shifts to the right).

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Figure 11 Response over Time to an Increase
in Money Supply Growth

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Figure 11 Response over Time to an Increase
in Money Supply Growth

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Figure 11 Response over Time to an Increase
in Money Supply Growth

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Figure 11 Response over Time to an
Increase in Money Supply Growth

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Figure 12 Money Growth (M2, Annual Rate) and Interest
Rates (Three-Month Treasury Bills), 1950–2017

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL;

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TB3MS

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