Banks Create Money

Video

Creating Money

This video is an exerpt from a longer film, Money as Debt. It gives the story of the development of banking from the goldsmiths, though it suggests that there was something underhanded and unethical in what the goldsmith did. There is some good insight here, but also some misleading allusions. An alternative source for this is here.

Checking Account Money

Here is an explanation of checks from "School House Rock: The Check Is in The Mail." Is this description of how the payments system works enough for an educated person? Or should an educated person be able to explain the process in terms of balance sheets? Justify whatever position you take. (Alternative here .)

The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy

The Federal Reserve has a large number of educational videos, but few are available on youtube. Here is one with rather low production values from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland that gives basic information about the Fed.

Here is another, originally from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Finally, here is a video from the European Central Bank explaining its goal of keeping both inflation and deflation in check. Suppose that the ECB keeps inflation at 2% a year. Using the rule of 72, by how much will prices have changed in a century?

These links were checked on March 18, 2010.