Thursday, February 16, 2017

Interest rates & Investment Demand

Investment: Money spent or expenditures on:
    • New plants (factories)
    • Capital equipment (machinery)
    • Technology (hardware & software)
    • New Homes 
    • Inventories (goods sold by producers)

Expected Rates of Return

  • How does business make investment decisions?
    • Cost/Benefit Analysis
  • How does business determine the benefits?
    • Expected rate of return 
  • How does business count the cost?
    • Interest costs
  • How does business determine the amount of investment they undertake?
    • Compare expected rate of return to interest cost
      • If expected return > interest cost, then invest
      • If expected return < interest cost, then do not invest 

What then, determines the cost of an investment decision? 
    • The real interest rate (r%)

Investment Demand Curve (ID)

  • What is the shape of the investment demand curve?
    • Downward sloping
  • Why?
    • When interest rates are high, fewer investments are profitable; when interest rates are low, more investments are profitable 
Shifts in Investment Demand
  • Cost of Production
  • Business Taxes 
  • Technological Change
  • Stock of Capital
  • Expectations 
A little video to help further understand this topic: 

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