It’s regularly being created and destroyed – and economic models that don’t reflect that fact are not even slightly useful
In the classic 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, depositors demand their money from a small-town building society. Its manager, George Bailey (in an unforgettable performance by James Stewart), explains that the money is not in the building society’s vault; it has been lent to other people in the town. “The money’s not there,” Bailey pleads. “Your money’s in Joe’s house … And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs Macklin’s house, and a hundred others.”
Bailey’s explanation reflects a widespread idea of how banks work.
