Prior to the crisis, the interest rate channel was circumvented by FX borrowing, which meant that only the exchange rate channel of the monetary transmission mechanism did really work.
In this regard, I would note that good data on the use of PC banking by households and small businesses is a must. Electronic banking raises similar issues for our evaluation of the Community Reinvestment Act performance of banks. Here again, a fundamental aspect of our current approach is definition of the relevant geographic area.