IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gde/journl/gde_v60_n1_p1-42.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Italy: The Credit Channel and a Missing Ring

Author

Listed:
  • Riccardo Fiorentini

    (University of Pavia)

  • Roberto Tamborini

    (University of Trento)

Abstract

Research on how money affects economic activity has revived interest in the socalled "credit view". In this paper we focus on current developments in the credit view in order to assess the results of the past decade's research and its legacy for macroeconomics and monetary policy. We expound the main models of the "credit channels" of monetary transmission, drawing a distinction between models of aggregate demand, which are predominant, and models of aggregate supply, which are less developed despite theory suggests a potential connection between credit conditions and firms' production activity. Each approach is accompanied by a survey of the main empirical results with particular reference to Italy, where bankfirm relations are traditionally regarded as particularly important.

Suggested Citation

  • Riccardo Fiorentini & Roberto Tamborini, 2001. "The Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Italy: The Credit Channel and a Missing Ring," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 60(1), pages 1-42, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gde:journl:gde_v60_n1_p1-42
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: ftp://ftp.gde.unibocconi.it/gde_articles/2001/GDE_V60_N1_P1-42.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farmer, Roger E A, 1984. "A New Theory of Aggregate Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 920-930, December.
    2. Mayer, Colin, 1988. "New issues in corporate finance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1167-1183, June.
    3. Christiano, Lawrence J & Eichenbaum, Martin & Evans, Charles, 1996. "The Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks: Evidence from the Flow of Funds," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 16-34, February.
    4. Gordon, Robert J, 1990. "What Is New-Keynesian Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 1115-1171, September.
    5. Blinder, Alan S & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1983. "Money, Credit Constraints, and Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 297-302, May.
    6. Kashyap, Anil K. & Stein, Jeremy C., 1995. "The impact of monetary policy on bank balance sheets," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 151-195, June.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1992. "Asymmetric Information in Credit Markets and Its Implications for Macro-economics," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 694-724, October.
    8. Francesco Giavazzi, 1999. "The Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy in Europe: Evidence from Banks’ Balance Sheets," Working papers 99-20, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    9. Marvin Goodfriend & Robert G. King, 1997. "The New Neoclassical Synthesis and the Role of Monetary Policy," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1997, Volume 12, pages 231-296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Delli Gatti, Domenico & Gallegati, Mauro, 1997. "Financial Constraints, Aggregate Supply, and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 65(2), pages 101-126, March.
    11. Bernanke, Ben S & Blinder, Alan S, 1992. "The Federal Funds Rate and the Channels of Monetary Transmission," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 901-921, September.
    12. Greenwald, B & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1987. "Keynesian, New Keynesian and New Classical Economics," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 119-133, March.
    13. Mark Gertler & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1988. "Financial factors in business fluctuations," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 33-78.
    14. Ben S. Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1995. "Inside the Black Box: The Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 27-48, Fall.
    15. Ben Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1990. "Financial Fragility and Economic Performance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 87-114.
    16. Anil K. Kashyap & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Monetary Policy and Bank Lending," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, pages 221-261, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Eichenbaum, Martin, 1992. "'Interpreting the macroeconomic time series facts: The effects of monetary policy' : by Christopher Sims," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1001-1011, June.
    18. Dedola, Luca & Lippi, Francesco, 2005. "The monetary transmission mechanism: Evidence from the industries of five OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1543-1569, August.
    19. Ben S. Bernanke & Ilian Mihov, 1998. "Measuring Monetary Policy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 869-902.
    20. Sims, Christopher A., 1992. "Interpreting the macroeconomic time series facts : The effects of monetary policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 975-1000, June.
    21. Jeffrey A. Miron & Christina D. Romer & David N. Weil, 1994. "Historical Perspectives on the Monetary Transmission Mechanism," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, pages 263-306, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    23. Christina D. Romer & David H. Romer, 1990. "New Evidence on the Monetary Transmission Mechanism," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 21(1), pages 149-214.
    24. Gordon, David B & Leeper, Eric M, 1994. "The Dynamic Impacts of Monetary Policy: An Exercise in Tentative Identification," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(6), pages 1228-1247, December.
    25. Bernanke, Ben S & Blinder, Alan S, 1988. "Credit, Money, and Aggregate Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 435-439, May.
    26. Bruce Greenwald & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1993. "New and Old Keynesians," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 23-44, Winter.
    27. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    28. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    29. Giuseppe De Arcangelis & Giorgio Di Giorgio, 1998. "In Search of Monetary Policy Measures: The Case of Italy in the 1990s," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 57(2), pages 213-250, September.
    30. Kashyap, Anil K & Stein, Jeremy C & Wilcox, David W, 1993. "Monetary Policy and Credit Conditions: Evidence from the Composition of External Finance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 78-98, March.
    31. Giancarlo Bertocco, 1997. "Il governo della moneta e del credito in Italia. Un'analisi del meccanismo di trasmissione della politica monetaria nel periodo 1960-95," Politica economica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 309-344.
    32. Hans‐Michael Trautwein, 2000. "The Credit View, Old and New," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 155-190, April.
    33. Bruce C. Greenwald & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1993. "Financial Market Imperfections and Business Cycles," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(1), pages 77-114.
    34. Lewis, Mervyn K. & Mizen, Paul D., 2000. "Monetary Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198290629.
    35. Mayer, Colin, 1994. "The Assessment: Money and Banking: Theory and Evidence," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, Winter.
    36. Olivier Blanchard, 2000. "What Do We Know about Macroeconomics that Fisher and Wicksell Did Not?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1375-1409.
    37. Laura Rondi & Brian Sack & Fabio Schiantarelli & Alessandro Sembenelli, 1998. "Firms' Financial and Real Responses to Monetary Tightening: Evidence for Large and Small Italian Companies," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 57(1), pages 35-64, April.
    38. Blinder, Alan S, 1987. "Credit Rationing and Effective Supply Failures," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(386), pages 327-352, June.
    39. Mark Gertler & Simon Gilchrist, 1993. "The role of credit market imperfections in the monetary transmission mechanism: arguments and evidence," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 93-5, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    40. Jaffee, Dwight & Stiglitz, Joseph, 1990. "Credit rationing," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 837-888, Elsevier.
    41. Bruce C. Greenwald & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1990. "Macroeconomic Models with Equity and Credit Rationing," NBER Chapters, in: Asymmetric Information, Corporate Finance, and Investment, pages 15-42, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Paolo Chiades & Leonardo Gambacorta, 2000. "La "credit view" in economia aperta: un�applicazione al caso italiano," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 388, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    43. Roberto Tamborini, 1999. "An Investigation into the New Keynesian Macroeconomics of Imperfect Capital Markets," Chapters, in: Marcello Messori (ed.), Financial Constraints and Market Failures, chapter 2, pages 81-104, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    44. repec:bla:scandj:v:95:y:1993:i:1:p:43-64 is not listed on IDEAS
    45. Colin Mayer, 1990. "Financial Systems, Corporate Finance, and Economic Development," NBER Chapters, in: Asymmetric Information, Corporate Finance, and Investment, pages 307-332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. Friedman, Benjamin M & Kuttner, Kenneth N, 1992. "Money, Income, Prices, and Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(3), pages 472-492, June.
    47. Frank Hahn & Robert Solow, 1997. "A Critical Essay on Modern Macroeconomic Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026258154x, April.
    48. Fountas, Stilianos & Papagapitos, Agapitos, 2001. "The monetary transmission mechanism: evidence and implications for European Monetary Union," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 397-404, March.
    49. Townsend, Robert M., 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 265-293, October.
    50. Boot, Arnoud W. A., 2000. "Relationship Banking: What Do We Know?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 7-25, January.
    51. repec:bla:jecsur:v:14:y:2000:i:2:p:155-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    52. King, Stephen R, 1986. "Monetary Transmission: Through Bank Loans or Bank Liabilities?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 18(3), pages 290-303, August.
    53. Douglas Gale & Martin Hellwig, 1985. "Incentive-Compatible Debt Contracts: The One-Period Problem," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(4), pages 647-663.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eugenio Gaiotti & Alessandro Secchi, 2004. "Is there a cost channel of monetary policy transmission? An investigation into the pricing behaviour of 2,000 firms," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 525, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    2. Flora Bellone & Patrick Musso & Lionel Nesta & Stefano Schiavo, 2010. "Financial Constraints and Firm Export Behaviour," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 347-373, March.
    3. Gianluca Grimalda & Lorenzo Sacconi, 2005. "The Constitution of the Not-For-Profit Organisation: Reciprocal Conformity to Morality," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 249-276, September.
    4. Giuliana Passamani & Roberto Tamborini, 2006. "Monetary policy through the �credit-cost channel�. Italy and Germany," Department of Economics Working Papers 0609, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    5. Julie Dana & Christopher L. Gilbert, 2008. "Managing Agricultural Price Risk in Developing Countries," Department of Economics Working Papers 0819, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    6. Lorenzo Sacconi & Stefano Moretti, 2004. "A Fuzzy Logic and Default Reasoning Model of Social Norm and Equilibrium Selection in Games under Unforeseen Contingencies," Department of Economics Working Papers 0412, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    7. Maria Caporale, Guglielmo & M. Soliman, Alaa, 2009. "The Asymmetric Effects of a Common Monetary Policy in Europe," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 24, pages 455-475.
    8. Andreozzi, Luciano, 2012. "Property rights and investments: An evolutionary approach," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 1-11.
    9. Giuseppe Arbia & Giuseppe Espa & Diego Giuliani & Andrea Mazzitelli, 2009. "Clusters of firms in space and time," Department of Economics Working Papers 0902, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    10. Massimo Caruso, 2006. "Monetary Policy Impulses, Local Output and the Transmission Mechanism," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 65(1), pages 1-30, May.
    11. Christopher L. Gilbert, 2008. "How to Understand High Food Prices," Department of Economics Working Papers 0823, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    12. Elisabetta De Antoni, 2008. "Minsky�s Upward Instability: the Not-Too-Keynesian Optimism of a Financial Cassandra," Department of Economics Working Papers 0812, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    13. Christopher L. Gilbert, 2008. "Commodity Speculation and Commodity Investment," Department of Economics Working Papers 0820, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    14. Massimo Caruso, 2004. "Monetary Policy Impulses, Local Output and the Transmission Mechanism," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 537, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    15. Lorenzo Sacconi, 2004. "A Social Contract Account for CSR as Extended Model of Corporate Governance (Part II): Compliance, Reputation and Reciprocity," Department of Economics Working Papers 0411, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    16. Sandra Notaro & Alessandro Paletto & Roberta Raffaelli, 2008. "Does forest damage have an economic impact? A case study from the Italian Alps," Department of Economics Working Papers 0809, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    17. K. Vela Velupillai, 2004. "The unreasonable ineffectiveness of mathematics in economics," Department of Economics Working Papers 0406, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    18. Christopher L. Gilbert & Alexandra Tabova, 2004. "Commodity prices and debt sustainability," Department of Economics Working Papers 0404, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Riccardo Fiorentini & Roberto Tamborini, 2002. "Monetary Policy, Credit and Aggregate Supply: The Evidence from Italy," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 31(3), pages 451-491, November.
    2. Tamborini, Roberto, 2009. "The "Credit-Cost Channel" of Monetary Policy. A Theoretical Assessment," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-23.
    3. Roberto Tamborini, 2010. "The Macroeconomics of Imperfect Capital Markets: Whither Saving-Investment Imbalances?," Contributions to Economics, in: Giorgio Calcagnini & Enrico Saltari (ed.), The Economics of Imperfect Markets, chapter 0, pages 137-166, Springer.
    4. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95.
    5. Größl Ingrid & Stahlecker Peter, 2000. "Finanzierungsbedingungen und Güterangebot: Ein Überblick über finanzökonomische Ansätze und deren geldpolitische Konsequenzen," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 220(2), pages 223-250, April.
    6. Smant, David / D.J.C., 2002. "Bank credit in the transmission of monetary policy: A critical review of the issues and evidence," MPRA Paper 19816, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Marco Gallegati, 2005. "Financial constraints and the balance sheet channel: a re-interpretation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(16), pages 1925-1933.
    8. Guillaume Colosiez & Mouldi Djelassi, 1993. "La redécouverte des cycles financiers," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 26(3), pages 109-144.
    9. Balázs Égert & Ronald MacDonald, 2006. "Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Transition Economies: Surveying the Surveyable," MNB Working Papers 2006/5, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary).
    10. Repullo, Rafael & Suarez, Javier, 2000. "Entrepreneurial moral hazard and bank monitoring: A model of the credit channel," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1931-1950, December.
    11. Giuseppe De Arcangelis & Giorgio Di Giorgio, 1999. "Monetary policy shocks and transmission in Italy: A VAR analysis," Economics Working Papers 446, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    12. Bougheas, Spiros & Mizen, Paul & Yalcin, Cihan, 2006. "Access to external finance: Theory and evidence on the impact of monetary policy and firm-specific characteristics," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 199-227, January.
    13. Hubbard, R Glenn & Kuttner, Kenneth N & Palia, Darius N, 2002. "Are There Bank Effects in Borrowers' Costs of Funds? Evidence from a Matched Sample of Borrowers and Banks," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 559-581, October.
    14. Anil K. Kashyap & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Monetary Policy and Bank Lending," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, pages 221-261, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Fabio ALESSANDRINI, 2003. "Some Additional Evidence from the Credit Channel on the Response to Monetary Shocks: Looking for Asymmetries," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 03.04, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    16. Fernando Barran & Virginie Coudert & Benoît Mojon, 1995. "Transmission de la politique monétaire et crédit bancaire. Une application à trois pays de l'OCDE," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 46(2), pages 393-413.
    17. Kashyap, Anil K. & Stein, Jeremy C., 1995. "The impact of monetary policy on bank balance sheets," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 151-195, June.
    18. Diemo Dietrich, 2003. "Monetary Policy Shocks and Heterogeneous Finance Decisions: A Model of Hidden Effort Choice and Financial Intermediation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(3), pages 365-388, August.
    19. Holtemöller, Oliver, 2002. "Further VAR evidence for the effectiveness of a credit channel in Germany," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 2002,66, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    20. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    monetary policy; credit; Italian economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gde:journl:gde_v60_n1_p1-42. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Erika Somma (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gde.unibocconi.it/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.