ROLE OF MONEY IN MACROECONOMICS
1. Introduction
Money can be seen as the medium of exchange which is acceptable while transaction is being undertaken between two parties. Some of the common forms of money are:
- Commodity money: This is when the value of the good represents its value in terms of money like gold or silver.
- Fiat money: This is when the value of the good is less than the value it represents
- Bank money: It is the accounting credits that can be used by the depositor
Money serves a variety of crucial functions in the economy and this is why it has gained an unparalleled influence in the matters of economy at micro as well as macro levels. Some of the features of money that make it so important for any economy are as follows:
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Also, the benefits of the public good are enjoyed by all. The producers are able to better plan their production and consumers know when to buy.
Macroeconomic variables act as indicators of the current trends of the economy like inflation or recession and anticipate their future trends. Some of the indicators of macroeconomics are as follows:
- Growth: Economic growth indicates the expansion of the economy over time and is measured by the performance of the economy over the same period in the immediate past. For eg, the performance in a particular quarter of the economy vis a vis the the same quarter in the previous year. This enables wage and income earners, producers etc to take pre-emptive action. Some of the measures are Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Product (GNP) etc
- Forecasting: This is necessary to predict the possible future trend of the economy so as to enhance overall efficiency of the economy. This may be short term, medium term as well as long
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The fiscal policy is primarily an instrument in the hands of the government whereby it estimates its revenues and expenditures in the economy. This is a very important tool as it would define the flow of money from different sources, indicating the level of activity in the economy. It also defines the broad policies of the government indicating the outwards flow of money in to different sectors of the economy to maintain the overall health of the economy and fulfill its social goals.
Apart from the fiscal policy every country has monetary policy at its disposal. This is primarily a tool at the disposal of the central bank of a country which uses different tools to manage the macro economic variables of a country to keep the economy stable or to stabilize it in situations of fluctuations. Monetary policy can be expansionary or contractionary depending on whether the money supply is being increased or decreased in the system so as to affect economic growth, inflation, exchange rates with other currencies and