xii, 114 p. : ill. / The banking sector has been extensively analyzed in economics. On the microeconomic side, research has advanced our understanding of banks and the inverse relationship between market power and bank production. The macroeconomic side of research has focused on the transmission of monetary policy, and it is understood that the financial system, including banks, plays an integral role in transmitting monetary policy decisions to economic variables such as investment, consumption, and GDP. There is limited understanding, however, about how market power and bank concentration affects the transmission of monetary policy. The main focus of this dissertation is to address this gap in the literature and is achieved by three contributions. First, I develop a theory of banking behavior that accounts for competition and monetary policy. I empirically test the theory and show that banking concentration dampens the impact of monetary policy on lending activity in the short-run. My second contribution involves building a theoretical model with these short-run lending effects incorporated into an endogenous growth model that allows agents, banks, and the central bank to interact. This model shows how short-run lending is tied to growth. Again, monetary policy is less effective in markets with higher concentration. The last contribution is made by empirically testing the second contribution. The empirical findings are consistent with both the first and second contributions; banking markets with less competition adversely affect growth and also diminish the long-run impact of monetary policy. / Committee in charge: Dr. Mark Thoma, Co-Chair; Dr. Wesley Wilson, Co-Chair; Dr. Shankha Chakraborty, Member; Dr. Larry Dann, Outside Member

[pt] Neste estudo iremos empiricamente avaliar o impacto do envelhecimento da população na eficácia da política monetária. Primeiramente, estimaremos o impacto da política monetária sobre o hiato do produto e inflação, evidenciando um enfraquecimento geral da transmissão da política monetária ao longo do tempo. Em outras palavras, hiato do produto e inflação menos sensíveis às mudanças nas taxas de juros. Depois, utilizaremos o método de OLS para testar o efeito negativo e estatisticamente significativo das alterações demográficas na eficácia da política monetária. / [en] In this study we will empirically evaluate the impact of population aging on the effectiveness of monetary policy. First, we will estimate the impact of monetary policy on the output gap and inflation, evidencing a general weakening of monetary policy transmission over time. In other words, output gap and inflation are less sensitive to changes in interest rates. Then we will use the OLS method to test the negative and statistically significant effect of demographic changes on the effectiveness of monetary policy.

[pt] Estudei a transmissão da política monetária via canal de crédito com uma base mensal dos balanços dos bancos brasileiros de 2003 a 2017. Concluí que bancos que ofertam mais crédito subsidiado pelo governo e proveniente de captações compulsórias são menos sensíveis a variações da política monetária. Dessa forma, ao manter uma política de incentivo econômico via expansão do crédito, o governo está obstruindo esse canal de transmissão e consequentemente reduzindo a potência da política monetária. Adicionalmente, concluo que os bancos continuam rebalanceando sua carteira de crédito meses após o choque monetário, o que corrobora a visão de Bernanke e Blinder (1992) de que os bancos não desfazem seus contratos de crédito vigentes, mas apenas se recusam a fazer novos. Por fim, verifico um efeito de flight-to-quality em períodos de aperto monetário e menos liquidez na economia. Bancos tendem a reduzir mais seus créditos de alto risco do que os créditos de baixo risco. Entretanto, ao manter um alto volume de crédito subsidiado e proveniente de depósitos compulsórios esse efeito é mitigado. / [en] I have studied monetary policy transmission through the credit channel based on monthly financial statements of Brazilian banks from 2003 to 2017. I have come to the conclusion that banks which offer a higher amount of government subsidized credit originated from compulsory fund raising are less likely to be affected by changes in interest rates. Consequently, by keeping an economic growth policy through credit expansion the government is obstructing this channel of transmission and thus reducing the power of the monetary policy. Additionally, I concluded that banks continue to adjust their loan portfolios until months after the monetary shock, corroborating Bernanke and Blinder (1992), who observed that banks do not cancel existing contracts, but just refuse to create new ones. To finish, I observe a fly-to-quality effect in periods of tight monetary policy and a less liquid economy. Banks tend to cut down on high-risk loans rather than low-risk ones. Nevertheless, by keeping a high amount of government subsidized credit originated from compulsory fund raising, this effect is mitigated.

Central banks use a series of relatively small interest rate changes in adjusting their monetary policy stance. This persistence in interest rate changes is well documented by empirical monetary policy reaction functions that feature a large estimated coefficient for the lagged interest rate. The two hypotheses that explain the size of this large estimated coefficient are monetary policy inertia and serially correlated macro shocks. In the first part of my dissertation, I show that the effect of inertia on the Federal Reserve’s monthly funds rate adjustment is only moderate, and smaller than suggested by previous studies. In the second part, I present evidence that the temporal aggregation of interest rates puts an upward bias on the size of the estimated coefficient for the lagged interest rate. The third part of my dissertation is inspired by recent developments in the housing market and the resulting effect on the overall economy. In this third essay, we show that high loan-to-value mortgage borrowing reduces the effectiveness of monetary policy.