Chapter

13

Saving, Investment, and

the Financial System
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
• Financial system
– Group of institutions in the economy
– That help match
• One person’s saving
• With another person’s investment
• Financial markets
– Financial institutions
• Savers can directly provide funds to borrowers

2
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
• Financial markets
• The bond market
– Bond
• Certificate of indebtedness
• Time of maturity - at which the loan will be repaid
• Rate of interest
• Principal - amount borrowed
• Term - length of time until maturity
• Credit risk
• Tax treatment
3
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
• Financial markets
• The stock market
– Stock
• Claim to partial ownership in a firm
– Organized stock exchanges
• Stock prices: demand and supply
– Equity finance
• Sale of stock to raise money
– Stock index
• Average of a group of stock prices
4
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
• Financial intermediaries
– Financial institutions
• Savers can indirectly provide funds to borrowers
• Banks
– Take in deposits from savers
• Banks pay interest
– Make loans to borrowers
• Banks charge interest
– Facilitate purchasing of goods and services
• Checks – medium of exchange
5
Financial Institutions in the U.S. Economy
• Financial intermediaries
• Mutual funds
– Institution that sells shares to the public
– Uses the proceeds to buy a portfolio of stocks
and bonds
– Advantages
• Diversification
• Access to professional money managers

6
Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• Some important identities

• Gross domestic product (GDP)
– Total income
– Total expenditure
• Y = C + I + G + NX
• Y= gross domestic product GDP
• C = consumption
• G = government purchases
• NX = net exports

7
Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• Some important identities

• Closed economy
– Doesn’t interact with other economies
– NX = 0
• Open economy
– Interact with other economies
– NX ≠ 0

8
Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• Some important identities

• Assumption: close economy: NX = 0
–Y = C + I + G
• National saving (saving), S
– Total income in the economy that remains
after paying for consumption and
government purchases
– Y – C – G = I; S = Y – C - G
–S = I
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Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• Some important identities

• T = taxes minus transfer payments
–S = Y – C – G
– S = (Y – T – C) + (T – G)
• Private saving, Y – T – C
– Income that households have left after paying for
taxes and consumption
• Public saving, T – G
– Tax revenue that the government has left after
paying for its spending
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Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• Some important identities

• Budget surplus: T – G > 0
– Excess of tax revenue over government
spending
• Budget deficit: T – G < 0
– Shortfall of tax revenue from government
spending

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Saving & Investment in National Income Accounts

• The meaning of Saving and Investing

• S=I
• Saving = Investment
– For the economy as a whole
– One person’s savings can finance another
person’s investment

12
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Market for loanable funds
– Market
• Those who want to save supply funds
• Those who want to borrow to invest demand
funds
– One interest rate
• Return to saving
• Cost of borrowing
– Assumption
• Single financial market
13
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Supply and demand of loanable funds
– Source of the supply of loanable funds
• Saving
– Source of the demand for loanable funds
• Investment
– Price of a loan = real interest rate
• Borrowers pay for a loan
• Lenders receive on their saving

14
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Supply and demand of loanable funds
– As interest rate rises
• Quantity demanded declines
• Quantity supplied increases
– Demand curve
• Slopes downward
– Supply curve
• Slopes upward

15
 Figure 1
The market for loanable funds
Interest
Rate Supply

5%

Demand

0 $1,200 Loanable Funds

(in billions of dollars)
The interest rate in the economy adjusts to balance the supply and demand for
loanable funds. The supply of loanable funds comes from national saving, including
both private saving and public saving. The demand for loanable funds comes from
firms and households that want to borrow for purposes of investment. Here the
equilibrium interest rate is 5 percent, and $1,200 billion of loanable funds are supplied
and demanded. 16
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Policy 1: saving incentives
• Shelter some saving from taxation
– Affect supply of loanable funds
– Increase in supply
• Supply curve shifts right
– New equilibrium
• Lower interest rate
• Higher quantity of loanable funds
– Greater investment

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 Figure 2
Saving incentives increase the supply of loanable funds
Interest
Rate Supply, S1
S2

1. Tax incentives for saving

5%
increase the supply of
4% loanable funds . . .
2. . . . Which Demand
reduces the
equilibrium
interest rate . . .
0 $1,200 $1,600 Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and raises the equilibrium quantity of loanable funds.

A change in the tax laws to encourage Americans to save more would shift the supply of loanable
funds to the right from S1 to S2. As a result, the equilibrium interest rate would fall, and the lower
interest rate would stimulate investment. Here the equilibrium interest rate falls from 5 percent to
4 percent, and the equilibrium quantity of loanable funds saved and invested rises from $1,200
billion to $1,600 billion.
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 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Policy 2: investment incentives
• Investment tax credit
– Affect demand for loanable funds
– Increase in demand
• Demand curve shifts right
– New equilibrium
• Higher interest rate
• Higher quantity of loanable funds
– Greater saving

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 Figure 3
Investment incentives increase the demand for loanable
funds
Interest
Rate
Supply

6% 1. An investment tax credit

increases the demand for
5% loanable funds . . .

2. . . . which
raises the D2
equilibrium
interest rate . . . Demand, D1
0 $1,200 $1,400 Loanable Funds
(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and raises the equilibrium quantity of loanable funds.
If the passage of an investment tax credit encouraged firms to invest more, the demand for
loanable funds would increase. As a result, the equilibrium interest rate would rise, and the
higher interest rate would stimulate saving. Here, when the demand curve shifts from D 1 to D2,
the equilibrium interest rate rises from 5 percent to 6 percent, and the equilibrium quantity of
loanable funds saved and invested rises from $1,200 billion to $1,400 billion. 20
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Policy 3: government budget deficits and
surpluses
• Government - starts with balanced budget
– Then starts running a budget deficit
• Change in supply of loanable funds
• Decrease in supply
– Supply curve shifts left
• New equilibrium
– Higher interest rate
– Smaller quantity of loanable funds

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 Figure 4
The effect of a government budget deficit
Interest S2
Rate Supply, S1

6%
1. A budget deficit decreases
the supply of loanable funds . .
5% .
2. . . . which
raises the
equilibrium Demand
interest rate . . .

0 $800 $1,200 Loanable Funds

(in billions of dollars)
3. . . . and reduces the equilibrium quantity of loanable funds.
When the government spends more than it receives in tax revenue, the resulting budget deficit
lowers national saving. The supply of loanable funds decreases, and the equilibrium interest rate
rises. Thus, when the government borrows to finance its budget deficit, it crowds out households
and firms that otherwise would borrow to finance investment. Here, when the supply shifts from
S1 to S2, the equilibrium interest rate rises from 5 percent to 6 percent, and the equilibrium
quantity of loanable funds saved and invested falls from $1,200 billion to $800 billion.
22
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Policy 3: government budget deficits and
surpluses
• Crowding out
– Decrease in investment
– Results from government borrowing
• Government - budget deficit
– Interest rate rises
– Investment falls

23
 The Market for Loanable Funds
• Policy 3: government budget deficits and
surpluses
• Government – budget surplus
– Increase supply of loanable funds
– Reduce interest rate
– Stimulates investment

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 The history of U.S. government debt

• Debt of U.S. federal government

– As a percentage of U.S. GDP
– Fluctuated
• 0% of GDP in 1836 to 107% of GDP in 1945
• 30-40% of GDP in recent years
• War – primary cause of fluctuations in
government debt:
– Debt financing of war – appropriate policy
• Tax rates – smooth over time
– Shifts part of the cost of wars to future generations
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 Figure 5
The U.S. government debt

The debt of the U.S. federal government, expressed here as a percentage of GDP, has varied
throughout history. Wartime spending is typically associated with substantial increases in
government debt. 26
 The history of U.S. government debt

• Large increase in government debt

– Cannot be explained by war
– Around 1980
– President Ronald Reagan, 1981
• Committed to smaller government and lower taxes
• Cutting government spending - more difficult politically
than cutting taxes
– Period of large budget deficits
– Government debt: 26% of GDP in 1980 to 50% of
GDP in 1993

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 The history of U.S. government debt

• President Bill Clinton, 1993

– Major goal - deficit reduction
– And Republicans took control of Congress, 1995
• Deficit reduction
– Substantially reduced the size of the government
budget deficit
– Eventually: surplus
– By the late 1990s - debt-GDP ratio - declining

28
 The history of U.S. government debt

• President George W. Bush

– Debt-GDP ratio - started rising again
– Budget deficit
• Several major tax cuts
• 2001 recession - decreased tax revenue and increased
government spending
• War on terrorism - increases in government spending

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