The Role of the Monetary Base in Australia

While the monetary base might be a useful concept for analyzing variation in the money supply, it is a misleading indicator of the central bank's monetary policy. Three intervening institutional considerations are: (1) regulation of interest rates and the central bank's trading in LGS assets with the banks; (2) Government banking with the central bank; and (3) the role of Australian savings banks. Institutional change would increase the authorities' control over the money supply.