During the recent economic downturn, banks contributed to the decline by loaning less money. Prior to the downturn, regulatory standards for loanmaking by banks were tightened. Clearly, ttherefore, banks will lend more money if those standards are relaxed. The argument assumes that ['the reason for tightening the regulatory standards was not arbitrary', 'no relaxation of standards for loanmaking by banks would compensate for the effects of the downturn', 'no economic downturn is accompanied by a significant decrease in the amount of money loaned out by banks to individual borrowers and to businesses', 'the downturn did not cause a significant decrease in the total amount of money on deposit with banks which is the source of funds for banks to lend']