After Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, cross-border bank lending contracted sharply. To explain the severity and variation in this contraction, we analyze detailed data on cross-border syndicated lending by 75 banks to 59 countries. We find that banks that had to write...

Statistics show that the sale of goods on credit is widespread among firms even when they are financially constrained and thus face relatively high costs in providing trade credit. A possible explanation for this is the use of trade credit as a competitiveness tool. By analyzing both the impact...

We examine the strategic reaction of banks to the current global financial crisis. In particular, we test whether banks predominantly react by diversifying their loan portfolio or by stepping up their screening and monitoring. To this end we analyze information on nearly 17,000 syndicated loans...

When do foreign banks have an advantage operating abroad and when not? Studying the performance of foreign banks in a large number of countries between 1999 and 2006, we find that this crucially depends on a number of factors. Specifically, foreign banks tend to perform better compared to...

Statistics show that the sale of goods on credit is widespread among firms even when they are capital constrained and thus face relatively high costs in providing trade credit. This study provides an explanation for this by arguing that customers that possess strong market power are able to...