Financial Accelerator Mechanism: Evidence for Colombia
The series Working Papers on Economics is published by the Office for Economic Studies at the Banco de la República (Central Bank of Colombia). The works published are provisional, and their authors are fully responsible for the opinions expressed in them, as well as for possible mistakes. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.
Colombia experienced a deep recession in 1999-2003. Growth slowed by 4.2%, and investment by 34.6%. Was the severity of the recession due to a financial accelerator mechanism á la Bernanke, Gertler, and Gilchrist (1999)? To answer this question, this paper estimates a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with credit-market imperfections for the Colombian economy using Bayesian methods. The results show that balance-sheet effects played an important role in explaining recent Colombian recession; the financial accelerator mechanism turns out to be quantitatively significant accounting for about 50 percent of the total reduction in output after a monetary policy tightening.
The opinions expressed herein do not involve the Banco de la República or its Board of Directors; theses are the authors exclusive responsibility.
