DP13233 Credit mechanics - a precursor to the current money supply debate

Author(s):	Frank Decker, Charles A Goodhart
Publication Date:	October 2018
Date Revised:	October 2018
Keyword(s):	balances mechanics, Bank credit, credit creation, credit mechanics, money supply theory
JEL(s):	E40, E41, E50, E51
Programme Areas:	Monetary Economics and Fluctuations
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=13233

This paper assesses the theory of credit mechanics within the context of the current money supply debate. Credit mechanics and related approaches were developed by a group of German monetary economists during the 1920s-1960s. Credit mechanics overcomes a one-sided, bank-centric view of money creation, which is often encountered in monetary theory. We show that the money supply is influenced by the interplay of loan creation and repayment rates; the relative share of credit volume neutral debtor-to-debtor and creditor-to-creditor payments; the availability of loan security; and the behavior of non-banks and non-borrowing bank creditors . With the standard textbook models of money creation now discredited, we argue that a more general approach to money supply theory involving credit mechanics needs to be established.