Problem 1. Suppose, as part of an active monetary policy, the Federal Reserve sells government and other securities from its existing portfolio holdings to the banking and financial sectors and the non-bank public. Suppose also that the banking sector is fully “loaned up,” meaning that it is holding no excess reserves. Trace through the expected consequences of this secondary market action on the banking system - reserves, loanable and investable funds, and deposits; financial markets - bond and stock prices, and interest rates; inflationary pressures; credit-sensitive spending; and the general state of the economy as measured by real GDP (or real income) and unemployment. Under what circumstances would the Federal Reserve do this?
Problem 2. The U.S. Federal government has been running deficits in the hundreds of billions of dollars which means that the U.S. Treasury is issuing hundreds of billions of dollars in new Treasury securities. If this is all you consider, what are the consequences for interest rates, spending financed by private borrowing, the money supply, the bond supply and inflation from this action alone? While the U.S. has been running these massive deficits, what has been true about interest rates? How do you explain this contradiction in interest rate effects and what are the big concerns going forward?