How do depository institutions create liquidity, pool risks, and lower the cost of borrowing?
What will be an ideal response?
Liquidity is the property of being easily convertible into a means of payment without loss in value. Depository institutions create liquidity when they offer deposits that can be withdrawn as money at short (or no) notice and then use these deposits to make long-term loans.
Depository institutions pool risk because they use funds obtained from many depositors to make loans to many borrowers. As a result, if a borrower defaults, no one depositor bears the entire loss because the loss is spread over all depositors. By spreading the risk, depository institutions are pooling risk.
Depository institutions lower the cost of borrowing because they specialize in borrowing. For instance, a firm that wants to borrow a large sum of money need only visit one depository institution to arrange such a loan. In the absence of depository institutions, the firm would need to undertake many transactions with many lenders, which would be a costly process.
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If Ebenezer Scrooge spends rather than saves his vast wealth, he will
A) promote economic growth because he is increasing the amount of funds available for investment. B) slow economic growth because he is reducing the amount of funds available for investment. C) slow economic growth because he is increasing the amount of funds available for investment. D) promote economic growth because he is decreasing the amount of funds available for investment.
Going from a closed to an open economy ________ macroeconomic policymaking, especially now that exchange rates are ________
A) complicates, flexible B) complicates, fixed C) simplifies, flexible D) simplifies, fixed