The Balance-Sheet Transmission Channel of Monetary Policy: The Cases of Germany and Spain

In this paper, the role of the financial position of private agents in the transmission of monetary policy (the balance-sheet channel) is explored. To the extent that official interest rates are able to affect the market value and the income flows of certain categories of financial instruments and that these changes in financial wealth and interest income have an effect on aggregate expenditure, output and prices, supplementary transmission mechanisms arise in addition to those related to the substitution between current and future demand.