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August 1968

The Monetary Base—Explanation and Analytical Use

by Leonall C. Andersen and Jerry L. Jordan

The monetary base recently has achieved prominence as a measure of monetary influence on the economy. Other aggregates often used are the money stock defined as currency plus demand deposits held by the nonbank public, money plus time deposits at commercial banks, member bank reserves, bank credit, liquid assets, and total credit, Other frequently used measures of monetary actions include market interest rates and so-called marginal reserve measures such as member bank excess reserves, borrowings from Reserve banks, and free reserves.