Some considerations on using monetary policy to promote financial stability

Abstract

The current period of crisis in credit markets has highlighted the crucial role of the behavior of banks in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. This paper summarises our considerations on how monetary policy, as the main instrument, acts in order to promote financial stability and to stabilize the banking system. Central banks have a variety of tools for implementing monetary policy, but the tool that has received the most attention in literature is the interest rate. We observe that the financial crisis that erupted in the summer of 2007 has refocused attention on other channels of monetary policy, notably the transmission of policy through the supply of credit and overall conditions in the capital markets. Monetary policy has important macroeconomic effects only to the extent that it moves financial market prices that matter—like long-term interest rates, stock market values, and exchange rates.