Multiplier effects and credit creation in the euro-dollar market

Abstract

The Euro-dollar market and in particular its impact on the world supply of credit is currently one of the most controversial and at the same time one of the most important topics of international finance. In an article published in September 1970, Machlup quite vehemently attacked much of the established thinking on this subject. The present paper argues that the analogy of a largely self-contained commercial banking system, which seems to lie at the basis of Machlup’s conceptual apparatus and analytical procedures, misses some of the most essential features of the Euro-dollar market. The author shows how the model of endogenous credit creation in a relatively closed national banking system must be modified in order to arrive at a more realistic appraisal  of the Euro-dollar market’s credit-creating potential.

JEL: E44, E51, F30, G21