You are aware that your neighbor trades stocks based on confidential information he overhears at his workplace. This information is not available to the general public. This neighbor continually brags to you about the profits he earns on these trades. Given this, you would tend to argue that the financial markets are at best form efficient.

Suppose a new "payment technology" allows individuals to make payments using u.s. treasury bonds (i.e., u.s. treasury bonds are immediately cashed when needed to make a payment and that balance is transferred to the payee). how do you think this payment technology would affect the transactions component of the demand for money? a. this would lead to a decreased need to hold cash for transactions; however, the transactions demand for money would remain unchanged. b. this would lead to a decreased need to hold cash for transactions, thus the transactions demand for money would decrease. c. this would lead to an increased need to hold cash for transactions, thus the transactions demand for money would increase. d. this technology would not change the transactions component of the demand for money.