Identifying the mechanism: is there a bank lending channel of monetary transmission in the Netherlands?

Abstract

The paper investigates the role of bank lending in the monetary transmission process in the Netherlands. The Johansen approach is used to identify supply and demand relationships in the credit market, and it is concluded from the short-run dynamics that this market is demand-determined. In this way, an important identification problem of studies based on aggregate data is explicitly addressed. Results are consistent with earlier fundings that banks hold a buffer stock of securities which they use to offset monetary shocks. The main implication of the study is that a bank lending channel is not an important monetary transmission mechanism.