The Effect of Easing Monetary Policy in Regional Lending Markets in Japan

This paper investigates the factors that support a funding demand increase in regional economies under easing monetary conditions. The following results were empirically obtained on the basis of individual firms and the 47 regional data in the 2000s in Japan. The first result is that funding demand regionally increases where the relative size of private capital stock is large. This result suggests that industrial agglomeration complements easing monetary policy to induce regional funding demand. The second result is that regional banking soundness in lending markets also contributes to an increase in the funding demand. This suggests that another possible requirement of the money suppliers must be fulfilled to induce the regional funding demand.