国际清算银行-货币体系的弹性（英）

BIS Bulletin No 101 Elasticity in the monetary system Ryan Banerjee, Michael Chui, Jon Frost and Jose Maria Vidal Pastor 4 June 2025 BIS Bulletins are written by staff members of the Bank for International Settlements, and from time to time by other economists, and are published by the Bank. The papers are on subjects of topical interest and are technical in character. The views expressed in them are those of their authors and not necessarily the views of the BIS. The authors are grateful to Iñaki Aldasoro, Matthias Burgert and Blaise Gadanecz for comments, to Giulio Cornelli and Ilaria Mattei for excellent analysis and research assistance, to Alison Arnot for editorial support and to Nicola Faessler and Danielle Ritzema for administrative support. The editor of the BIS Bulletin series is Hyun Song Shin. This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). © Bank for International Settlements 2025. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is stated. ISSN: 2708-0420 (online) ISBN: 978-92-9259-862-4 (online) BIS Bulletin: Elasticity in the monetary system 1 Ryan BanerjeeRyan.Banerjee@bis.orgMichael ChuiMichael.Chui@bis.orgJon Frost Jon.Frost@bis.org Jose Maria Vidal PastorJoseMaria.VidalPastor@bis.org Elasticity in the monetary system Money forms the backbone of the economy and financial system. To play this role, it needs to pass three key tests. First, it needs to be accepted by agents in the economy at par with “no questions asked”. This is often referred to as the “singleness of money”. Second, it must support the integrity of the monetary system against financial crime and other forms of illicit activity. And third, it must expand and contract flexibly to meet the changing needs of the economy – a feature often referred to as elasticity. The crucial role of elasticity is apparent in normal times, as credit enables obligations to be discharged without resulting in gridlock. Both central banks and commercial banks provide settlement liquidity elastically. One concrete manifestation is the elastic supply of reserves by the central bank, eg through intraday overdrafts, in real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems. This greases the wheels of the monetary system, smoothing differences between incoming and outgoing payments to avoid the system becoming stuck. But the need for elasticity is even more important in times of stress or when precautionary demand for money is high. Crucially, banks create money elastically by extending credit to firms and households. When banks offer lines of credit, they pre-commit to providing such credit when needed. That allows borrowers to draw on these lines at their discretion, which creates new bank money (Goodhart (2017)). Borrowers can then make payments whose value exceeds their existing deposit balances. This can be particularly valuable during times of stress. This Bulletin sheds light on the crucial role of elasticity in t