Money and Banking | 货币与银行

📚 Money and Banking | 货币与银行

Money and banking form the foundation of every modern economy. Understanding what money is, how banks operate, and why central banks matter is essential for any Cambridge IGCSE Economics student. This article explores these core topics with clear definitions, real-world examples, and exam-focused explanations.

货币与银行是现代经济体系的基石。对于剑桥 IGCSE 经济学考生而言，理解货币的本质、银行的运作方式以及中央银行的重要性是必不可少的。本文将以清晰的定义、现实案例和紧扣考点的讲解，深入探讨这些核心主题。

1. The Functions of Money | 货币的职能

Money is anything that is generally accepted as a means of payment for goods and services, and for settling debts. It is important to distinguish money from wealth and income, as these terms are often confused. Economists identify four primary functions of money, often summarised as the four ‘functions of money’.

货币是普遍被接受为商品和服务支付手段以及清偿债务的任何事物。必须区分货币与财富和收入，因为这些概念经常被混淆。经济学家归纳了货币的四大基本职能。

Medium of exchange: Money is used to buy and sell goods and services. Without money, people would have to rely on barter, which requires a double coincidence of wants. Money eliminates this problem, making trade far more efficient.
交换媒介：货币用于购买和出售商品与服务。没有货币，人们必须依赖物物交换，而这需要需求的双重巧合。货币消除了这一问题，使交易更加高效。
Measure of value: Money acts as a common unit of account. It allows us to express the value of goods and services in a standard way. Prices displayed in a shop or on a menu are all measured in money.
价值尺度：货币充当统一的计价单位。它使我们能够以标准化的方式表达商品和服务的价值。商店或菜单上显示的价格都是以货币计量的。
Store of value: Money allows people to save their wealth for future use. Although inflation can erode the real value of money over time, it generally remains a convenient way to hold wealth between earning and spending.
贮藏手段：货币使人们能够将财富储存起来以备未来使用。尽管通货膨胀会侵蚀货币的实际价值，但货币仍然是在收入和支出之间持有财富的便捷方式。
Standard of deferred payment: Money is used to settle debts and loans. When you take out a student loan or pay a utility bill by monthly instalments, money is the means by which future payments are agreed and fulfilled.
延期支付标准：货币用于清偿债务和贷款。当你申请学生贷款或按月分期支付水电费时，货币是约定和履行未来支付的工具。

2. Characteristics of Money | 货币的特征

For something to function effectively as money, it should possess six key characteristics. These are often tested in exams through short-answer questions asking whether a given item could serve as money.

某种事物要想有效地充当货币，必须具备六个关键特征。考试常以简答题考查某个物品是否能充当货币。

Characteristic	Why it matters	特征	重要性
Acceptability	Everyone must trust and accept it in payment.	可接受性	所有人都必须信任并接受它作为支付手段。
Scarcity	It must be limited in supply, so it retains value.	稀缺性	其供应必须有限，才能保持价值。
Durability	It must withstand wear and tear over time.	耐久性	必须经久耐用，不易磨损。
Divisibility	It must be split into smaller units for various prices.	可分割性	必须可以分割成较小单位以适应不同价格。
Portability	It must be easy to carry and transfer.	便携性	必须便于携带和转移。
Homogeneity	Identical units must have equal value.	同质性	相同单位必须具有相等价值。

£10 note = £10 coin = £10 bank transfer

10 英镑纸币 = 10 英镑硬币 = 10 英镑银行转账

3. The Functions of Commercial Banks | 商业银行的职能

Commercial banks are financial institutions that accept deposits from households and firms and use these funds to make loans and provide other financial services. In the IGCSE syllabus, you need to know their main functions and the services they offer to their customers.

商业银行是接受家庭和企业存款，并利用这些资金发放贷款和提供其他金融服务的金融机构。在 IGCSE 考纲中，你需要掌握其主要职能和为客户提供的服务。

Accepting deposits: Banks provide a safe place for savers to keep their money. Three common types of accounts are current accounts (for everyday spending), savings accounts (for earning interest), and fixed-deposit accounts (locked in for a set term).
接受存款：银行为储户提供安全的资金存放场所。三种常见账户类型是活期账户（用于日常支出）、储蓄账户（用于赚取利息）和定期存款账户（在约定期限内锁定）。
Making loans: Banks lend money to individuals and firms. Personal loans, mortgages, overdrafts, and business loans are all forms of credit that banks provide. In return, they charge interest on the amount borrowed.
发放贷款：银行向个人和企业提供贷款。个人贷款、按揭贷款、透支和商业贷款都是银行提供的信贷形式。作为回报，银行对借款金额收取利息。
Facilitating payments: Banks allow customers to make payments through debit cards, credit cards, cheques, and online transfers. This reduces the need to carry cash and speeds up transactions.
支付结算：银行允许客户通过借记卡、信用卡、支票和在线转账进行支付。这减少了对携带现金的需求，并加快了交易速度。
Providing other services: Banks also offer currency exchange, financial advice, safe-deposit boxes, and insurance products. These additional services generate fee income for the bank and convenience for customers.
提供其他服务：银行还提供外汇兑换、金融咨询、保管箱和保险产品。这些附加服务为银行创造手续费收入，也为客户提供便利。

4. Why Commercial Banks Are Important | 商业银行的重要性

Commercial banks play a vital role in any economy. They connect savers with borrowers, which helps channel funds from those with surplus money to those who need money for investment. This process is called financial intermediation.

商业银行在任何经济中都扮演着至关重要的角色。它们连接储户与借款人，将资金从拥有盈余的人手中引导到需要资金进行投资的人手中。这一过程被称为金融中介。

By lending money to firms, banks support investment in new machinery, technology, and premises. This increases the productive capacity of the economy and creates employment. Lending to households enables spending on homes, cars, and education, which drives aggregate demand.

通过向企业发放贷款，银行支持新机器、新技术和厂房的投资。这提高了经济的生产能力，并创造就业。向家庭放贷则推动住房、汽车和教育支出，从而拉动总需求。

Banks also provide a secure payment system. Without banks, workers would need to be paid in cash, and firms would struggle to transact with customers overseas. The trust banks create within the financial system is essential for economic stability.

银行还提供了安全的支付系统。如果没有银行，工人只能以现金领取工资，企业与海外客户的交易也会十分困难。银行在金融体系中建立的信任对经济稳定至关重要。

5. Central Banks and Their Functions | 中央银行及其职能

A central bank is an institution that manages the currency, money supply, and interest rates of an entire country. It is the ‘bank of the banks’ and acts on behalf of the government. The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve in the US, and the European Central Bank are all examples of central banks.

中央银行是管理整个国家货币、货币供应量和利率的机构。它是“银行的银行”，代表政府行事。英格兰银行、美国联邦储备系统和欧洲中央银行都是中央银行的例子。

Issuing currency: The central bank has the sole authority to issue banknotes and coins in the country. This maintains confidence and prevents counterfeiting.
发行货币：中央银行拥有发行国家纸币和硬币的专属权力。这维护了信心并防止伪造。
Banker to the government: The central bank manages the government’s accounts, collects taxes on its behalf, and helps manage the national debt.
政府的银行：中央银行管理政府账户，代其收税，并协助管理国债。
Banker to commercial banks: Commercial banks hold reserves at the central bank. When banks need short-term funds, they can borrow from the central bank as a lender of last resort.
商业银行的银行：商业银行在中央银行持有准备金。当银行需要短期资金时，可以最后贷款人的身份向中央银行借款。
Controlling the money supply and interest rates: Through monetary policy, the central bank influences the amount of money in the economy and the cost of borrowing, to achieve price stability and economic growth.
控制货币供应量和利率：中央银行通过货币政策影响经济中的货币数量和借贷成本，以实现价格稳定和经济增长。
Supervising the financial system: The central bank regulates commercial banks to ensure they have enough capital and to prevent banking crises.
监管金融体系：中央银行对商业银行进行监管，确保其拥有足够的资本，并防止银行危机。

6. How Central Banks Control the Money Supply | 中央银行如何控制货币供应量

The central bank does not print money every time it wants to expand the economy. Instead, it uses several tools to influence the money supply and credit creation. These tools are the instruments of monetary policy.

中央银行并不是每次想扩张经济时就印钞。相反，它使用多种工具来影响货币供应量和信用创造。这些工具就是货币政策的政策工具。

Interest rates. Raising interest rates makes borrowing more expensive and saving more attractive. This reduces spending and lowers the money supply. Cutting interest rates has the opposite effect.

利率。提高利率使借贷更昂贵、储蓄更有吸引力。这会减少支出并降低货币供应量。降低利率则产生相反效果。

Open market operations. If the central bank wants to reduce the money supply, it sells government securities to commercial banks. The banks pay for these securities with cash, so the money is withdrawn from circulation. To increase money supply, the central bank buys securities back, injecting cash into the banking system.

公开市场操作。如果中央银行想减少货币供应量，就向商业银行出售政府债券。商业银行用现金购买这些债券，从而将货币从流通中回收。要增加货币供应量，中央银行则买回债券，向银行体系注入现金。

Reserve requirements. In some countries, commercial banks must hold a minimum percentage of their deposits as reserves at the central bank. If the central bank lowers this requirement, banks can lend more, thereby increasing the money supply.

准备金要求。在某些国家，商业银行必须在中央银行持有一定比例的存款作为准备金。如果中央银行降低这一要求，银行就可以放出更多贷款，从而增加货币供应量。

7. The Money Creation Process | 货币创造过程

A key concept in IGCSE Economics is that commercial banks can create money through lending. This is not about printing notes; it is about the expansion of bank deposits. When a bank makes a loan, it credits the borrower’s account with a deposit, creating new money in the form of demand deposits.

IGCSE 经济学中的一个关键概念是商业银行可以通过放贷创造货币。这并不是印钞，而是银行存款的扩张。当银行发放贷款时，它会把存款记入借款人的账户，从而以活期存款的形式创造新的货币。

Example: Suppose you deposit £1,000 in a bank. The bank keeps, say, 10% as a reserve (£100) and lends out the remaining £900. The borrower spends this £900, and the seller deposits it into another bank. That second bank keeps £90 in reserve and lends out £810. The process continues. In this way, the original £1,000 deposit can support a much larger total quantity of bank deposits across the economy.

例子：假设你在银行存入 1000 英镑。银行保留 10% 作为准备金（100 英镑），并将其余 900 英镑贷出。借款人花掉这 900 英镑，卖方将其存入另一家银行。第二家银行留出 90 英镑准备金，贷出 810 英镑。这个过程不断继续。通过这种方式，最初 1000 英镑的存款可以在整个经济中支撑更大规模的存款总量。

Money multiplier = 1 ÷ reserve ratio

货币乘数 = 1 ÷ 准备金率

Cambridge IGCSE questions often ask you to calculate or explain this multiplier effect. For example, if the reserve ratio is 10%, the maximum amount of new deposits that can be created is 1 ÷ 0.1 = 10 times the original deposit.

剑桥 IGCSE 的题目经常要求你计算或解释这一乘数效应。例如，若准备金率为 10%，可以创造的最大新增存款量是原始存款的 1 ÷ 0.1 = 10 倍。

8. Commercial Banks vs Central Banks | 商业银行与中央银行的对比

Many students confuse commercial banks with central banks. The table below highlights the key differences, which are frequently examined in short-answer and multiple-choice questions.

许多学生将商业银行与中央银行混淆。下表突出显示了两者之间的关键区别，这些区别经常出现在简答题和选择题中。

Feature	Central Bank	Commercial Bank
Ownership	Usually owned by the government	Usually owned by private shareholders
Objective	To manage the economy, not earn profit	To earn profit for shareholders
Customers	Government and commercial banks	Households and firms
Role	Issues currency, sets interest rates	Accepts deposits, makes loans
特征	中央银行	商业银行
所有权	通常归政府所有	通常归私人股东所有
目标	管理经济，不以营利为目的	为股东赚取利润
客户	政府和商业银行	家庭和企业
职能	发行货币、制定利率	吸收存款、发放贷款

9. The Functions of Money and Banks in the Wider Economy | 货币与银行在整个经济中的职能

Money and banking do not exist in isolation; they interact with nearly every macroeconomic objective. This makes them a favourite topic for essay questions in Cambridge IGCSE Paper 2.

货币与银行并非孤立存在，它们几乎与每一个宏观经济目标相互作用。这使得它们成为剑桥 IGCSE 试卷二论述题的常客。

Economic growth. When banks lend to businesses, those businesses can invest in capital goods, increasing output and national income. A well-functioning banking system supports long-run growth.

经济增长。当银行贷款给企业时，企业可以投资于资本品，从而增加产出和国民收入。运作良好的银行体系支持长期增长。

Price stability. If the central bank allows the money supply to grow too quickly, inflation rises. If money grows too slowly, economic activity slows down. Balancing this is the core challenge of monetary policy.

价格稳定。如果中央银行允许货币供应量增长过快，通货膨胀会上升。如果货币增长过慢，经济活动就会放缓。平衡这两者是货币政策的核心挑战。

Employment. Monetarist theory suggests that changes in the money supply affect real output and employment in the short run. Banks that lend to expanding firms contribute indirectly to job creation.

就业。货币主义理论认为，货币供应量的变化在短期内影响实际产出和就业。向扩张中的企业放贷的银行间接促进了就业创造。

Balance of payments. Higher interest rates can attract foreign capital inflows, which strengthens the exchange rate. This makes exports more expensive and imports cheaper, affecting the current account of the balance of payments.

国际收支。较高的利率可以吸引外国资本流入，从而推高汇率。这使出口更贵、进口更便宜，从而影响国际收支中的经常账户。

10. Real-World Applications and Exam Tips | 现实应用与应试技巧

Examiners expect you to apply your knowledge of money and banking to recent events. A good answer might mention how central banks around the world cut interest rates during the COVID-19 pandemic to support spending and investment. It might also note how rising inflation in the 2020s prompted central banks to raise interest rates, making borrowing more expensive and encouraging saving.

考官希望你能够将货币与银行的知识应用于近期事件。一个优秀的答案可能会提到在新冠疫情期间，世界各地的中央银行如何降低利率以支持支出和投资。它还可能指出，2020 年代通货膨胀上升如何促使中央银行提高利率，使借贷更加昂贵并鼓励储蓄。

For exam success, remember these practical tips:

为了考试成功，请记住以下实用技巧：

Define economic terms precisely before using them in essays.
在论述中使用术语之前，先给出精确定义。
Use real-world examples, not only textbook theory.
使用现实世界的例子，而不仅仅是教科书理论。
When drawing a diagram, label every axis and curve correctly.
画图时，正确标注每个坐标轴和曲线。
In evaluation paragraphs, discuss both advantages and disadvantages.
在评估段落中，讨论优点和缺点两个方面。
Pay attention to whether the question asks about the central bank or commercial banks.
注意题目问的是中央银行还是商业银行。

Mastering money and banking is not just about memorising definitions. It is about understanding how finance connects to everyday life and national prosperity. With these concepts, you will be well prepared for both multiple-choice questions and extended essays.

掌握货币与银行并不仅仅是记忆定义，而是理解金融如何与日常生活和国家繁荣相连。掌握这些概念后，你将为选择题和扩展论述题做好充分准备。

Published by TutorHao | Economics Revision Series | aleveler.com

更多咨询请联系16621398022（同微信）

Money and Banking | 货币与银行