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To be more precise, when a bank gives a loan of $1000 million, then it creates $1000 million.

This is a straightforward conclusion of how monetary aggregates such as M1 are defined: Among other things, M1 includes money in checking and similar accounts. The creation of the loan involves, among other things, adding $1000 million to some checking account, without reducing the amount of money anywhere else.

Hence, $1000 million is created net.

This contradicts the story that most people are familiar with, but it is a more accurate description of reality than that other story.



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