“The federal funds rate can never be below the interest rate paid on reserves.” Is this statement true, false, or uncertain? Explain your answer.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The market for reserves model demonstrates that once the fed funds rate arrives at the discount rate, it could never outperform the discount rate since banks would then acquire straightforwardly from the Fed, and not in the fed funds market, which would forestall the fed funds rate from truly increasing over the discount rate. So the given statement is uncertain.

Step by step solution

01

Concept Introduction

The federal funds rate is the objective interest rate set by the Fed at which commercial banks acquire and loan their additional stores to another short-term.

02

Explanation

The market for reserves model demonstrates that once the fed funds rate arrives at the discount rate, it could never outperform the discount rate since banks would then acquire straightforwardly from the Fed, and not in the fed funds market, which would forestall the fed funds rate from truly increasing over the discount rate. Nonetheless, by and by, the fed funds rate has been over the discount rate. This might happen because of the disgrace related with banks acquiring straightforwardly from the Fed. That is banks might like to pay a higher market rate than to get straightforwardly from the Fed and cause the apparent shame. Furthermore, nonbank monetary foundations, which don't approach the discount window, can and do take an interest in the federal funds market The degree to which nonbank monetary organizations take part in the fed funds market might imply that the hole when the fed funds rate is over the discount rate may not be arbitraged away.

03

Final Answer

The market for reserves model demonstrates that once the fed funds rate arrives at the discount rate, it could never outperform the discount rate since banks would then acquire straightforwardly from the Fed, and not in the fed funds market, which would forestall the fed funds rate from truly increasing over the discount rate. So the given statement is uncertain.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

In December 2008, the Fed switched from a point federal funds target to a range target (and it’s possible that it will switch back to a point target in the future). Go to the St. Louis Federal Reserve FRED database, and find data on the federal funds targets/ ranges (DFEDTAR, DFEDTARU, DFEDTARL) and the effective federal funds rate (DFF). Download into a spreadsheet the data from the beginning of 2006 through the most current data available.

a. What is the current federal funds target/ range, and how does it compare to the effective federal funds rate?

b. When was the last time the Fed missed its target or was outside the target range? By how much did it miss?

c. For each daily observation, calculate the “miss” by taking the absolute value of the difference between the effective federal funds rate and the target (use the abs(.) function). For the periods in which the rate was a range, calculate the absolute value of the “miss” as the amount by which the effective federal funds rate was above or below the range. What was the average daily miss between the beginning of 2006 and the end of 2007? What was the average daily miss between the beginning of 2008 and December 15, 2008? What is the average daily miss for the period from December 16, 2008, to the most current date available? Since 2006, what was the largest single daily miss? Comment on the Fed’s ability to control the federal funds rate during these three periods.

If the manager of the open market desk hears that a snowstorm is about to strike New York City, making it difficult to present checks for payment there and so raising the float, what defensive open market operations will the manager undertake?

What is the main rationale behind paying negative interest rates to banks for keeping their deposits at central banks in Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan? What could happen to these economies if banks decide to loan their excess reserves, but no good investment opportunities exist?

Open market operations are typically repurchase agreements. What does this tell you about the likely volume of defensive open market operations relative to the volume of dynamic open market operations?

In which economic conditions would a central bank want to use a “forward-guidance” strategy? Based on your previous answer, can we easily measure the effects of such a strategy?

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