Expansionary Monetary Policy vs. Contractionary Monetary Policy

Generally speaking contractionary monetary policies and expansionary monetary policies involve changing the level of the money supply in a country. Expansionary monetary policy is simply a policy which expands (increases) the supply of money, whereas contractionary monetary policy contracts (decreases) the supply of a country's currency.

Expansionary Monetary Policy

when the Central Bank wishes to increase the money supply, it can do a combination of three things:

1. Purchase securities on the open market, known as Open Market Operations
2. Lower the Discount Rate
3. Lower Reserve Requirements

These all directly impact the interest rate. When the Central Bank buys securities on the open market, it causes the price of those securities to rise. The  Discount Rate is an interest rate, so lowering it is essentially lowering interest rates. If the Central Bank instead decides to lower reserve requirements, this will cause banks to have an increase in the amount of money they can invest. This causes the price of investments such as bonds to rise, so interest rates must fall. No matter what tool the Central Bank uses to expand the money supply interest rates will decline and bond prices will rise.

What We've Learned About Expansionary Monetary Policy:

1. Expansionary monetary policy causes an increase in bond prices and a reduction in interest rates.
2. Lower interest rates lead to higher levels of capital investment.
3. The lower interest rates make domestic bonds less attractive, so the demand for domestic bonds falls and the demand for foreign bonds rises.
4. The demand for domestic currency falls and the demand for foreign currency rises, causing a decrease in the exchange rate. (The value of the domestic currency is now lower relative to foreign currencies)
5. A lower exchange rate causes exports to increase, imports to decrease and the balance of trade to increase.

Contractionary Monetary Policy

The effects of a contractionary monetary policy are precisely the opposite of an expansionary monetary policy.when the Central Bank wishes to decrease the money supply, it can do a combination of three things:

1. Sell securities on the open market, known as Open Market Operations
2. Raise the Discount Rate
3. Raise Reserve Requirements

These cause interest rates to rise, either directly or through the increase in the supply of bonds on the open market through sales by the Central Bank or by banks. This increase in supply of bonds reduces the price for bonds. These bonds will be bought up by foreign investors, so the demand for domestic currency will rise and the demand for foreign currency will fall. Thus the domestic currency will appreciate in value relative to the foreign currency. The higher exchange rate makes domestically produced goods more expensive in foreign markets and foreign good cheaper in the domestic market. Since this causes more foreign goods to be sold domestically and less domestic goods sold abroad, the balance of trade decreases. As well, higher interest rates cause the cost of financing capital projects to be higher, so capital investment will be reduced.

What We've Learned About Contractionary Monetary Policy:

1. Contractionary monetary policy causes a decrease in bond prices and an increase in interest rates.
2. Higher interest rates lead to lower levels of capital investment.
3. The higher interest rates make domestic bonds more attractive, so the demand for domestic bonds rises and the demand for foreign bonds falls.
4. The demand for domestic currency rises and the demand for foreign currency falls, causing an increase in the exchange rate. (The value of the domestic currency is now higher relative to foreign currencies)
5. A higher exchange rate causes exports to decrease, imports to increase and the balance of trade to decrease.

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