This paper studies the role of reserve requirements as a macroprudential policy tool in China. In a factor-augmented vector autoregression of China, we find that banking system works as a shock absorber. To explain this "financial attenuator" effect, we extend an otherwise standard New-Keynesian model including (i) a banking sector with financial frictions with households, (ii) a credit in multi-period contracts, (iii) a central bank that conducts monetary policy by adjusting the nominal interest rate in response to the money-growth rate, and (iv) the reserve requirement (RR) as a macroprudent...
