Near Money

What’s more fun than a convertible sports coupe on a warm summer day? Why, convertible assets, of course, especially those that can be easily converted into cash. We’re talking government bonds, bank deposits, money market accounts—stuff like that.

There’s a name for assets like this, and that name is “near money.” We might also see it called “quasi-money,” because it’s kind of like having actual money in hand, but it’s not exactly the same. Economists and statisticians like to look at near money as part of our nation’s money supply, though it’s typically not counted in the same category as a country’s supply of cold, hard cash.