Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the implications of borrowing constraints characterizing the informal sector for macroeconomic volatility. Design/methodology/approach – To this end, the author develops a simple dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model wherein registered...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of the 2007 Italian severance payment reform on the cost and the access to credit for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – The authors study the implications of the reform adapting the...

This study uses tailor made enterprise level data from various sources for firms from manufacturing industries to test for the link between credit constraints, measured by a credit rating score provided by a leading credit rating agency, and imports in Germany for the first time. We find...

Since the onset of the financial crisis, income and consumption have fallen sharply in Ireland, particularly for young households. This paper shows that young households are more likely than older ones to be exposed to unemployment, arrears and negative equity. These may give rise to credit...

The importance of credit market imperfections for investment behavior is analyzed using Swedish firm level data. Adjustment and agency costs are included in the neoclassical theory of optimal financial and investment decisions for firms. In order to model the possible occurrence of agency costs...

We use a comprehensive Swedish credit register to document that firms throughout the size distribution have access to fairly large and reasonably priced credit lines, but borrow relatively little from them. We rationalize this using a theoretical framework in which the expected cost of financial...

By building a theoretical model and taking it to the data with two novel datasets, this paper analyses the interaction between credit constraints and exporting behaviour. Building a heterogeneous firms model of international trade with liquidity-constrained firms yields several predictions on...

Credit constraints are central to development economics theory. However, there is scant direct evidence that supports the existence of such constraints. Traditional tests observe how consumption changes after an unexpected income shock. Such changes can also result from myopic behavior or...

We build a heterogeneous-firms model with firm-specific wages and credit frictions to study the role of financial development for inequality in the global economy. If there are many small firms, better access to external funds reduces wage inequality and unemployment. In contrast, if there are...

This paper identifies the effect of financing constraints on firms’ labor demand. We exploit exogenous funding shocks to German savings banks during the US mortgage crisis that are unrelated to local conditions. We find that firms with credit relationships with affected banks experienced a...