Using a sample of distressed firms with information about suppliers, we document an average fall in the use of trade credit as firms approach bank-ruptcy compared to a control sample of non-bankrupt firms. However, we uncover a large degree of heterogeneity across suppliers. Suppliers facing...

In contrast to common literature that suggests that trade credit is an extremely expensive source of financing with annual interest rates exceeding 40 percent, this paper argues that the average interest rate of trade credit does not exceed the cost of alternative funds, with estimated average...

The extant literature on trade credit emphasizes its financing role wherein financially sound firms provide trade credit to ease the credit constraints of weaker trading partners. We offer an alternative, though not mutually exclusive, perspective in which trade credit serves as a commitment...

The extant literature on trade credit emphasizes its financing role wherein financially sound firms provide trade credit to ease the credit constraints of weaker trading partners. We offer an alternative, though not mutually exclusive, perspective in which trade credit serves as a commitment...

This paper examines the role of trade credit in a comprehensive panel of 290,301 SMEs across 15 European countries over the period 2003-2012. The results show that trade credit served as an important source of finance for credit constrained firms, and that the financial position of firms...

This study examines the consequences of conflicts between creditors. Using the setting of debt covenant violations, I employ a regression discontinuity design to identify the effect of bank interventions on their borrowers' trade credit. The results show that trade credit experiences a...

We investigate whether and how shocks propagate through trade credit. We exploit a large negative liquidity shock to firms in the Brazilian food industry, resulting from the announcement of a fraud investigation named Operation Weak Flesh. Using a differences-in-differences analysis, we show...

We document that borrowers of banks that received capital support under TARP/CPP significantly increased their quarterly provision of trade credit (accounts receivable) during the crisis by 5.2 percent, while borrowers of other banks did not. The effect is strongest in 2008Q4, and larger for...

This paper examines how a borrower's growth affects trade credit decisions. An analysis of publicly traded firm data from nine developed economies indicates that trade credit increases with growth. In some cases, this increase is driven by conditions related to liquidity. Exploring the...

This paper investigates the impact of business strategy on firms' trade credit policies. We find that firms following an innovation-oriented strategy (prospectors) offer significantly more trade credit to their customers than those following an efficiency-oriented strategy (defenders),...