Empirical Evidence for the Endogeneity of the Money Supply in the United States from 1971-2008

Abstract

Standard economic textbooks portray the money supply as exogenous. Most of these use a money multiplier framework to demonstrate the causal role of the monetary base in determining commercial bank lending and overall economic activity. In contrast, endogenous money theories attribute the determination of commercial bank lending and overall economic activity to the demand for credit, not the supply of money. In these theories, the demand for credit determines the supply of money, which banks create ex nihilo. We use updated Granger-causality tests to analyze quarterly U.S. data from 1959 to 2008 and find evidence that changes in commercial bank lending cause changes in both the monetary base and nominal income. Our results provide further support for the endogenous money views that the money supply has always been endogenous and that credit plays an important role in the money supply process. Endogenous money theories therefore provide a strong foundation for analyzing how credit and monetary policy affect overall economic activity.