Question

In a simplified banking system where deposits are the only form of money and the reserve ratio is 0.2, the deposit multiplier would be _____.

Answer 1

Answer:

5

Explanation:

The deposit multiplier or money multiplier is calculated by dividing 1 by the reserve ratio.

Money multiplier = 1 / 0.2 = 5

The money multiplier refers to the capacity that banks have to create money.

For example, I deposit $10,000 into my savings account and the reserve ratio is 20%. The bank then loans $8,000 to my neighbor so that he can buy a new bike. The bike's seller will then deposit the $8,000 to his/her bank. The seller's bank will then loan $6,400 to another client that purchases something else. The seller of that something else will then deposit the money into their bank, and the story goes on and on.

All of those transaction were possible because I deposited $10,000 and the banking system created money by multiplying my deposit.