We investigate the effects of a large government-initiated debt relief program on ex-ante and ex post credit market efficiency. We use loan accounts data for a large sample of borrowers before and after a nation-wide debt relief program in India. Employing robust regression discontinuity design,...

As a response to economic crises triggered by COVID-19, sovereign debt standstill proposals emphasize debt payment suspensions without haircuts on the face value of debt obligations. We quantify the effects of standstills using a standard default model. We find that a one-year standstill...

We model the expansion decision of a levered firm. Straight debt distorts both timing and scaling: the firm invests less and later than its all-equity financed counterpart. The inclusion of performance sensitivity in the debt contract mitigates such distortions. Moreover, performance sensitivity...

We examine the impact of overdue debts in small villages in one of Hungary's most disadvantaged regions. We find that a significant number of debtors with overdue debts permanently escape from debt collectors. Accordingly, in our sample, overdue debts reduce the likelihood of declared work by 14...