Thank you for your interest in my letter highlighting how determinants of inflation can be better understood. To clarify, two types of money exist ‘state money’ produced by the Fed and ‘bank money’ created by the private sector. Bank money drives growth. Today, bank money includes the service value of traditional commercial bank products such as deposits as well as shadow banking services such as commercial paper, money market funds, and repurchase agreements. In fact, what constitutes money may change over time as new financial products are introduced.
So, it is essential that the Fed, economists, and market participants measure and monitor both state and bank money. CFS Divisia accomplishes this feat by identifying assets that serve as money. Importantly, not all of these monetary assets provide equal amounts of service as money to the economy.
Bill Barnett uses the example of measuring the service value of transportation. Would a pair of roller skates and a locomotive provide equal value to the economy? No. So, CFS Divisia derives weights that vary over time.
For the theory, history and math behind CFS Divisia, please see Bill’s book Getting It Wrong … http://www.centerforfinancialstability.org/getting_wrong.php
For a practical application of CFS Divisia see http://centerforfinancialstability.org/research/why_cfs_divisia_071316.pdf