Definitions for "Open-market operations"
are purchases and sales of government securities in the open market by the Federal Reserve. Open-market operations are the primary tool for control of the monetary base. The opportunity cost of an action is the value of the best foregone alternative. The partisan theory views macroeconomic policy outcomes as the result of ideologically motivated decisions by leaders of different political parties.   The parties represent constituencies with different preferences concerning macroeconomic variables.
The buying and selling of government securities by the Federal Reserve to control the amount of money in circulation.
Open-market operations refers to the buying and selling of government securities on the financial markets. If the government sells large amounts of gilt-edged securities, this will mean a transfer of funds from the private sector to the government. This will happen as people buy securities and so have to write cheques or transfer money to the Bank of England who sold them. This means that the banks have less in the way of liquid funds available, and so they are unable to expand their loans as quickly. Selling gilt-edged securities is therefore considered to be a contractionary monetary policy.