Essays on the credit channel of monetary policy: a case study for Brazil

The onset of the financial crisis in 2008 and the European sovereign crisis in 2010 renewed the interest of macroeconomists on the role played by credit in business cycle fluctuations. The purpose of the present work is to present empirical evidence on the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Brazil with a special eye on the role played by the credit channel, using different econometric techniques. It is comprised by three articles. The first one presents a review of the literature of financial frictions, with a focus on the overlaps between credit activity and the monetary policy. It highlights how the sharp disruptions in the financial markets spurred central banks in developed and emerging nations to deploy of a broad set of non conventional tools to overcome the damage on financial intermediation. A chapter is dedicated to the challenge face by the policymaking in emerging markets and Brazil in particular in the highly integrated global capital market. This second article investigates the implications of the credit channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the case of Brazil, using a structural FAVAR (SFAVAR) approach. The term “structural” comes from the estimation strategy, which generates factors that have a clear economic interpretation. The results show that unexpected shocks in the proxies for the external finance premium and the credit volume produce large and persistent fluctuations in inflation and economic activity – accounting for more than 30% of the error forecast variance of the latter in a three-year horizon. Counterfactual simulations demonstrate that the credit channel amplified the economic contraction in Brazil during the acute phase of the global financial crisis in the last quarter of 2008, thus gave an important impulse to the recovery period that followed. In the third articles, I make use of Bayesian estimation of a classical neo-Keynesian DSGE model, incorporating the financial accelerator channel developed by Bernanke, Gertler and Gilchrist (1999). The results present evidences in line to those already seen in the previous article: disturbances on the external finance premium – represented here by credit spreads – trigger significant responses on the aggregate demand and inflation and monetary policy shocks are amplified by the financial accelerator mechanism. Keywords: Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy, Credit Channel, Financial Accelerator, FAVAR, DSGE, Bayesian Econometrics

Implications of bank ownership for the credit channel of monetary policy transmission:evidence from India

Using bank-level data from India, we examine the impact of ownership on the reaction of banks to monetary policy, and also test whether the reaction of different types of banks to monetary policy changes is different in easy and tight policy regimes. Our results suggest that there are considerable differences in the reactions of different types of banks to monetary policy initiatives of the central bank, and that the bank lending channel of monetary policy is likely to be much more effective in a tight money period than in an easy money period. We also find differences in impact of monetary policy changes on less risky short-term and more risky medium-term lending. We discuss the policy implications of the findings.

The credit channel transmission of monetary policy in the European Union

This paper confirms the importance of the financial systems behaviour conditions to the credit channel of monetary policy in the entire European Union (EU). It uses panel fixed- effect estimations and quarterly data for 26 EU countries for the period from Q1 1999 to Q3 2006 in an adaptation of the Bernanke and Blinder (1988) model. The findings also reveal the high degree of foreign dependence and indebtedness of the EU banking institutions and their similar reactions to the macroeconomic and the monetary policy environments.

Credit shocks and monetary policy in Brazil: a structural FAVAR approach

This paper investigates the implications of the credit channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in the case of Brazil, using a structural FAVAR (SFAVAR) approach. The term structural comes from the estimation strategy, which generates factors that have a clear economic interpretation. The results show that unexpected shocks in the proxies for the external nance premium and the bank balance sheet channel produce large and persistent uctuations in in ation and economic activity accounting for more than 30% of the error forecast variance of the latter in a three-year horizon. The central bank seems to incorporate developments in credit markets especially variations in credit spreads into its reaction function, as impulse-response exercises show the Selic rate is declining in response to wider credit spreads and a contraction in the volume of new loans. Counterfactual simulations also demonstrate that the credit channel ampli ed the economic contraction in Brazil during the acute phase of the global nancial crisis in the last quarter of 2008, thus gave an important impulse to the recovery period that followed.

Financial fragility, trade credit and contagion effects during the crisis: a spatial econometric approach to firm-level data

The number of distressed manufacturing firms increased sharply during recessionary phase 2009-13. Financial indebtness traditionally plays a key role in assessing firm solvency but contagion effects that originate from the supply chain are usually neglected in literature. Firm interconnections, captured via the trade credit channel, represent a primary vehicle of individual shocks’ propagation, especially during an economic downturn, when liquidity tensions arise. A representative sample of 11,920 Italian manufacturing firms is considered to model a two-step econometric design, where chain reactions in terms of trade credit accumulation (i.e. default of payments to suppliers) are primarily analyzed by resorting to a spatial autoregressive approach (SAR). Spatial interactions are modeled based on a unique dataset of firm-to-firm transactions registered before the outbreak of the crisis. The second step in instead a binary outcome model where trade credit chains are considered together with data on the bank-firm relationship to assess determinants of distress likelihoods in 2009-13. Results show that outstanding trade debt is affected by the liquidity position of a firm and by positive spatial effects. Trade credit chain reactions are found to exert, in turn, a positive impact on distress likelihoods during the crisis. The latter effect is comparable in magnitude to the one exerted by individual financial rigidity, and stresses the importance to include complex interactions between firms in the analysis of the solvency behavior.

O canal de empréstimos bancários no Brasil: uma evidência microeconômica

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the existence and relevance of the bank-lending channel in Brazil. For that purpose we use balance-sheet data of Brazilian financial institutions, and adopt a methodology based in Kashyap and Stein (2000), who use twostage and panel estimations. We find that restrictive monetary policy – represented by interest rate increases – lower the sensibility of bank lending to the liquidity of its assets. In other words, increases in the interest rate lead to less binding bank liquidity restrictions. Therefore, the existence of a bank-lending channel for the transmission of monetary policy in Brazil is refused.

Debt composition and exchange rate balance sheet effects in Brazil: A firm level analysis

In this paper we study the interaction between macroeconomic environment and firms’ balance sheet effects in Brazil during the 1990’s. We start by assessing the influence of macroeconomic conditions on firms’ debt composition in Brazil. We found that larger firms tend to change debt currency composition more in response to a change in the exchange rate risk than small firms. We then proceed to investigate if and how exchange rate balance sheet effects affected the firms’ investment decisions. We test directly the exchange rate balance sheet effect on investment. Contrary to earlier findings (Bleakley and Cowan, 2002), we found that firms more indebted in foreign currency tend to invest less when there is an exchange rate devaluation. We tried different controls for the competitiveness effect. First, we control directly for the effect of the exchange rate on exports and imported inputs. We then pursue an alternative investigation strategy, inspired by the credit channel literature. According to this perspective, Tobin’s q can provide an adequate control for the competitiveness effect on investment. Our results provide supporting evidence for imperfect capital markets, and for a negative exchange rate balance sheet effect in Brazil. The results concerning the exchange rate balance sheet effect on investment are statistically significant and robust across the different specifications. We tested the results across different periods, classified according to the macroeconomic environment. Our findings suggest that the negative exchange rate balance sheet effect we found in the whole sample is due to the floating exchange rate period. We also found that exchange rate devaluations have important negative impact on both cash flows and sales of indebted firms. Furthermore, the impact of exchange rate variations is asymmetric, and the significant effect detected when no asymmetry is imposed is engendered by exchange rate devaluations.

Canal de crédito: um estudo sobre a influência das questões regulatórias no mercado de crédito brasileiro

A literatura econômica discute há algum tempo as influências da política monetária no nível de produto e emprego de longo-prazo. Paralelo a este debate seminal, surgiram ao longo dos últimos anos discussões sobre os canais de transmissão de política monetária. Dentre o conjunto de canais sugeridos pela literatura, o canal de crédito é um dos que mais tem motivado estudiosos a aprofundarem o conhecimento sobre a sua forma de interação com a economia monetária e real. Por esta razão, este trabalho busca evidências da presença de um canal de crédito no Brasil que funciona através de alterações endógenas no mercado de crédito, mais propriamente através da alteração das condições do balanço dos agentes e de mudanças nos seus custos de agência, que motivam uma queda dos saldos de crédito concedidos a estes. Mas mais do que isto, através dos testes empíricos desenvolvidos, procura-se evidenciar que a presença de um canal de crédito no Brasil é reforçado por exigências regulatórias impostas aos bancos, que os tornam mais conservadores na oferta de crédito marginal ao conjunto de tomadores novos e com operações de crédito já contratadas. Em especial, o teste toma como variável a série de saldos de crédito concedidos ao longo do tempo, baseada em resoluções do Banco Central que normatizam sobre o provisionamento de crédito, em que se supõe que um choque monetário seja capaz de piorar a qualidade do balanço dos agentes, forçando as instituições financeiras a reclassificarem-os para piores classes de risco. Esta reclassificação, por sua vez, deve aumentar a base de crédito sobre a qual residem os maiores percentuais de provisionamento, o que torna os banqueiros mais conservadores e menos desejosos em ofertar crédito para o conjunto de tomadores de maior risco e para os tomadores como um todo.

Canal de crédito para o Brasil : uma avaliação empírica

O problema da identificação de equações de oferta e demanda de crédito para verificação da existência do canal de crédito tem sido sendo bastante discutido nas últimas décadas. Este trabalho avalia a estratégia de identificação via estimação de um modelo de um Modelo Vetorial de Correção de Erros para determinar a relevância do canal de crédito no Brasil. Foram utilizados dados agregados mensais compreendendo o período de 2001 até 2010.

O canal de crédito na transmissão de política monetária: evidências para o Brasil

Este trabalho traz avaliação empírica a respeito do canal de crédito no Brasil, feita com base no artigo de Holtemöller (2002). Para tanto, foi feita análise descritiva sobre a evolução do crédito no país, bem como testes econométricos utilizando dados monetários, de crédito e economia real. Observamos o aumento da importância do crédito nos últimos anos, assim como o aumento do endividamento corporativo via emissão de títulos. Portanto, seria natural esperar que o canal de crédito no mecanismo de transmissão da política monetária também se tornasse mais importante. Contudo, a análise empírica mostra que seus efeitos sobre a atividade econômica são limitados. Após estimações feitas para o canal monetário tradicional, a partir de vetores autorregressivos estruturais (SVAR) com vetores de correção de erros (VEC), incluímos variáveis de crédito para avaliar o impacto sobre o produto. Apesar de concluirmos que choques de política monetária possuem efeitos sobre a oferta de crédito, o impacto de condições creditícias restritivas sobre a produção industrial é pequeno. Alguns fatores como a existência de crédito corporativo direcionado via BNDES, maior importância da captação via mercado de capitais, medidas macroprudenciais adotadas e aumento do prazo médio concorrem para esse resultado.

O impacto nos balanços dos intermediários financeiros das ações de política monetária no Brasil

O trabalho busca verificar como as ações da política monetária impactam as instituições financeiras e, por conseguinte o setor real da economia, para tal procura-se também ter o entendimento dos mecanismos de transmissão econômica, com destaque da utilização do canal do crédito. O objetivo principal é analisar o papel das instituições financeiras através de suas ações junto ao restante dos agentes da economia. Como essas instituições são impactadas? Para isso, dividimos a análise em quatro tipos de bancos (comerciais privados, comerciais públicos, investimento e BNDES). Com esse intuito estudamos o impacto da Selic sobre duas classes especificas do balanço financeiro: ativo e patrimônio líquido, sobre o índice de ações IBR-X, assim como o efeito dos choques em componentes macroeconômicos, em específico: produto, investimento e consumo também sobre ativo e patrimônio líquido. Para tal aplicamos a técnica econométrica VAR (Vetor Autoregressivo) para dados mensais da economia brasileira entre 2003 e 2014. Não encontramos nenhum resultado estatisticamente significante sobre o impacto da Selic nos ativos e patrimônio líquido das instituições financeiras utilizadas no estudo, assim como para o impacto nas variáveis macroeconômicas produto, consumo e investimento sobre as mesmas classes contábeis. Para o impacto da Selic sobre o IBR-X encontramos que ao contrário do observado sobre os ativos e patrimônio líquido dos agentes financeiros, um choque da Selic sobre o IBR-X possui um efeito negativo e estatisticamente significante.

The Central Bank and bank credits in the Philippines : a survey on effectiveness of monetary policy and its measures

In the post-Asian crisis period, bank loans to the manufacturing sector have shown a slow recovery in the affected countries, unexceptionally in the Philippines. This paper provides a literacy survey on the effectiveness of the Central Bank’s monetary policy and the responsiveness of the financial market, and discusses on the future works necessary to better understand the monetary policy effectiveness in the Philippines. As the survey shows, most previous works focus on the correlation between the short-term policy rates and during the period of monetary tightening and relatively less interest in quantitative effectiveness. Future tasks would shed lights on (1) the asset side – other than loan outstanding – of banks to analyze their behavior/preference in structuring portfolios, and (2) the quantitative impacts during the monetary easing period.

The asset/liability structure of the Philippine banks and non-bank financial institutions in 2000s : a preliminary study for financial access analyses

Based on the consolidated statements data of the universal/commercial banks (UKbank) and non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking licenses, this paper presents a keen necessity of obtaining data in detail on both sides (assets and liabilities) of their financial conditions and further analyses. Those would bring more adequate assessments on the Philippine financial system, especially with regard to each financial subsector's financing/lending preferences and behavior. The paper also presents a possibility that the skewed locational and operational distribution exists in the non-UKbank financial subsectors. It suggests there may be a significant deviation from the authorities' (the BSP, SEC and others) intended/anticipated financial system in the banking/non-bank financial institutions' real operations.

Changes in source of profits and business strategies? : some evidence from the Philippines' universal banks in the 2000s

In the 2000s, the Philippines' local banking sector have conducted very conservative lending behavior and at the same time, gradually but continuously improved their profitability in terms of ROE (return on equity). A set of analyses on the flow of funds and segment reports (information) of local universal banks, whose loans outstanding to the industrial sector have dominated more than three fourths of the total outstanding, shows that (1) they have actively manage assets overseas, (2) their profitability has come from investment activities in the securities markets, and (3) some universal banks have shifted their resources into the consumer/retail segment. Although further refinement in the dataset is needed for a more detailed analysis, diverse business strategies would be expected among the local universal banks in the near future.

A bank lending channel or a credit supply shock?

Shifts in credit supply could have a bearing on house prices e.g. through financial innovations and changes in regulation independently of the existence of a bank lending channel of monetary policy. This paper assesses the responses of US house prices to an exogenous credit supply shock and compares them with the effects from variations in credit supply associated with a bank lending channel. The contribution of the study is twofold. First, innovations in credit supply are identified using a mortgage mix variable, thereby accounting for the market-based financial intermediaries. As a robustness check a survey variable of bank lending standards for mortgage loans is also used. Second, the policy-induced credit supply effect on house prices is disentangled and compared with the effect from an exogenous credit supply shock. It is shown that in the first 3 years credit supply shocks affect house prices exogenously rather than through the bank lending channel. Monetary policy has still a large impact on house prices, even when the bank lending channel is ‘turned off’.