Business Cycle Effects of Credit Shocks in a DSGE Model with Firm Defaults

This paper proposes a new theoretical framework for the analysis of the relationship between credit shocks, firm defaults and volatility. The key feature of the modelling approach is to allow for the possibility of default in equilibrium. The model is then used to study the impact of credit shocks on business cycle dynamics. It is assumed that firms are identical ex ante but differ ex post due to different realizations of firm-specific technology shocks, possibly leading to default by some firms. The implications of firm defaults for the balance sheets of households and banks and their subsequent impacts on business fluctuations are investigated within a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework. Results from a calibrated version of the model suggests that, in the steady state, a firm's default probability rises with its leverage ratio and the level of uncertainty in the economy. A positive credit shock, defined as a rise in the loan-to-deposit ratio, increases output, consumption, hours and productivity, and reduces the spread between loan and deposit rates. Interestingly, the effects of the credit shock tend to be highly persistent, even without price rigidities and habit persistence in consumption behavior