Access to external finance is a key challenge for the creation, survival and growth of SMEs. This article delves into the “weak funding” handicap of rural small firms (SEs): the access to bank financing and the substitutive role of trade credit for entrepreneurs in rural areas when they...

This paper studies the effect of the 2008 financial crisis on trade credit and bank credit for a sample of 1982 firms in thirteen countries in Western Europe. We find that net trade credit decreases gradually for the whole period. On the other hand bank credit stays stable for the first 2 years...

This paper studies the role of the credit crunch in the severe contraction of economic activity during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, using firm-level data from six emerging Asian economies. After controlling for the effect of falling demand, we find that sales declined by less for firms...

Using unique daily data of payment defaults on suppliers in France, we show how the trade credit channel amplified the demand shock that firms met during the COVID-19 crisis. That channel dramatically increased short-term liquidity needs during the first months of the pandemic. A one standard...

Using unique daily data on payment defaults to suppliers in France, we show how the trade credit channel amplified the Covid-19 shock, during the first months of the pandemic. It dramatically increased short-term liquidity needs in the most impacted downstream sectors: a one standard deviation...