Banks Create Money

Video

Checking Account Money

Here is an explanation of checks from "School House Rock: The Check Is in The Mail." Is this description of how the payments system works enough for an educated person? Or should an educated person be able to explain the process in terms of balance sheets? Justify whatever position you take.

The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy

This is a long, propaganda film clip from 1933 arguing that inflation is our friend. It all looks so easy as the professor draws the graphs. Why did it not work out better in the real world? To what extent is the message of the video correct?

The Federal Reserve has a large number of educational videos, but they have not yet put them on youtube. Here is a video from the European Central Bank explaining its goal of keeping both inflation and deflation in check. Suppose that the ECB keeps inflation at 2% a year. Using the rule of 72, by how much will prices have changed in a century?

These links were checked on May 13, 2009.