Money Multiplier: How it Works The process of creating money begins with the Federal Reserve, which controls the amount of currency that enters the system (University of Rhode Island, 2004). The currency it supplies is called high-powered money, which is directly controlled by the Federal Reserve. However, this is not the money supply. The high-powered money is distributed to two places - the vaults of the banks as reserves, or the pockets of individuals and businesses as cash. Because of the nature of the banking system, banks actually create the money. The cash held by the banks is called reserves and these reserves form the base for banks' expansion of checking accounts. When the currency held by the public is added to the deposit (checking) accounts created by the banks, the end result is the money supply.

Money Supply Process: Diagram 1.

SOURCE: University of Rhode Island. (2004). Money Supply: The Fed and the Creation and Control of Money. Retrieved from the Internet at: http://www.uri.edu/artsci/newecn/Classes/Art/INT1/Mac/1970s/Money.supply.html.

The money multiplier is the ratio of the stock of money to the stock of high -- powered money (University of Rhode Island, 2004). The fractional reserve system is a key piece in the money supply process. Diagram 2 below represents this system. On the left side is the Federal Reserve's supply of high-powered money that is held either as currency by the public or reserves by the banks. If the banks create demand deposit, they must hold in their vault some cash as required reserves. These banks may also hold some excess reserves (cash they do not use to create demand deposits). The banks' ability to create money from the cash is apparent in the positive slope of the demand deposit line - a small amount of reserves becomes a bigger amount of demand deposits. Excess reserves...

(2004). Money Supply: The Fed and the Creation and Control of Money. Retrieved from the Internet at: http://www.uri.edu/artsci/newecn/Classes/Art/INT1/Mac/1970s/Money.supply.html.
According to Investopedia.com (2004): "The multiplier effect depends on the set reserve requirement. So, the result of the multiplier effect can be calculated, as the amount banks initially take in divided by the reserve ratio. If, for example, the reserve requirement is 20%, for every $100 a customer deposits into a bank, $20 must be kept in reserve, but the remaining $80 can be loaned out to other bank customers. This $80 is then deposited by these customers into another bank, which in turn must also keep 20%, or $16, in reserve but can lend out the difference of $64. This cycle continues as more people deposit money and more banks continue lending it, until finally the $100 initially deposited creates a total of $500 ($100 / 0.2) in deposits. It is this creation of deposits that is known as the multiplier effect. The higher the reserve requirement, the tighter the money supply, which results in a lower multiplier effect for every dollar deposited. The lower the reserve requirement, the larger the money supply, which means more money is being created for every dollar deposited."

The money supply consists of coins and currency in the hands of the public, controlled by Federal Reserve, and deposits accounts controlled by the interaction of the households and companies that use money and the banks that generate money (University of Rhode Island, 2004). The Federal Reserve is the only power, however, that can alter the money supply.

Generally, when a person makes…