Description

As from issue number 50, the Series of Economic Studies of the Central Bank of Chile will be called Studies in Economic Statistics.

Prudential policies have gained notoriety in the public agenda around the world after the global financial crisis. In many jurisdictions, including Chile, a wide range of these policies have been adopted. Some of these policies have aimed to improve regulatory frameworks and others intended to influence the credit cycle with contractionary or expansionary action. Notwithstanding, empirical studies are still hard to come by. This could be attributed to the complexities of transforming rather qualitative information into quantitative variables for use in statistical exercises to measure the effectiveness of these policies. This paper describes an empirical exercise applied to the Chilean economy. It involves a review of the main prudential measures taken between 1990 and 2013 by the monetary authority and the prudential regulator in order to gauge their impact on the credit cycle. The results show that, to a limited extent, these measures did provide the desired effects of the policy makers.