Thursday, January 14, 2016

Journaling of Chapter 26: Saving, Investment, and the Financial System

Chapter 26, titled ‘Saving, Investment, and the Financial System’, focuses on the production of output in the long run. It specifically addresses the market for saving and investment in capital. Chapter 26 also shows how saving and investment are coordinated by the loanable-funds market. It teaches how to connect the lending of savers to the borrowing of investors. Financial institutions in the U.S economy include the bond market and the stock market. Financial intermediaries are financial institutions through which savers (lenders) can indirectly loan funds to borrowers. The two most important financial intermediaries are banks and mutual funds. The chapter also uses different national income identities to show the relationship between saving and investment. Long story short, saving is equal to investment. The last thing the chapter talks about is the market for loanable funds. The supply of loanable funds comes from national saving. The demand for loanable funds comes from households and firms.


Overall, I would give this chapter a difficulty rating of 1 out of 3. The ideas presented in this section were pretty easy to grasp because saving and investing is something seen in everyday life and is included in daily conversation so it seems more relatable than other concepts we have previously learned. Something I would like to further discuss in class is why consumption loans are not included in the supply of loanable funds. I would also like to delve more into the topic of financial intermediaries. For instance, what’s another example of a financial intermediary other than a bank?  

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