Fractional reserve banking is the backbone of today’s economy, allowing commercial banks to hold only a small fraction of customer deposits as reserves while lending out the rest. Through the money multiplier effect, a single deposit can expand the money supply many times over—creating loans, fueling growth, and enabling access to credit for homes, businesses, and education. But this system also carries risks: rapid money creation can drive inflation, currency devaluation, and boom-bust cycles that burden everyday people with debt. Discover how banks essentially create money out of thin air, the role of central bank reserve requirements, and why critics argue it widens economic inequality in our modern debt-based system.