Although, in practice, financial constraints seem to be given by the amount of bank lending for most small and medium-sized enterprises,56 the favourable development of corporate bonds and of financing via the “new markets” may lead to a better substitution between both sources of funds.
This reduces the importance of bottlenecks created by a shortage of bank credits and dampens the impact of the bank lending channel. Monetary impulses might be transmitted differently on more expectation-driven markets, which are largely influenced by real-sector developments.