The Effect of Business and Financial Market Cycles on Credit Ratings: Evidence from the Last Two Decades

We analyze the effect of business and financial market cycles on credit ratings using a sample of firms from the Russell 3000 index that are rated by Standard and Poor's over the period 1986–2012. We also examine investor reaction to credit rating actions in different stages of business and financial market cycles. We document that credit rating agencies are influenced by business and financial market cycles; they assign lower credit ratings during downturns of business and financial market cycles and higher ratings during upturns. Our study is the first to find strong evidence of pro‐cyclicality in credit ratings using a long window. We also document stronger investor reaction to negative credit rating actions during downturns. Our results confirm theoretical predictions and inform regulators.     

Bank credit risk events and peers' equity value

This paper documents a negative cross-transmission of bank-idiosyncratic credit risk events to the equity value of peers comprising other banks, insurance and real estate firms inter alia. Large jumps in the idiosyncratic component of bank CDS spreads significantly reduce the equity value of peers, particularly on the event day. The negative externality does not hinge on the “information connectedness” between the two entities as proxied by characteristics such as common core line of business, common country or region, and inter-country common legal tradition. The negative externality is stronger in turmoil market conditions when risk-aversion levels are higher and/or investors are subject to pessimism. The more fragile the risk profile of the event bank and peer firm prior to the event the stronger the cross-transmission. The findings lend support to the wake-up call paradigm at micro level, and are insightful towards a better assessment of the vulnerability of the financial system.     

房地产信贷、价格及市场供求关系研究

本文通过对2000年以来上海房地产信贷与房地产市场关系的实证分析,发现房地产信贷对房地产市场的影响主要表现在需求方而不是供应方,房地产信贷增长对房地产价格和房地产销售量增长有明显的促进作用,但对房地产开发投资没有明显的影响。房地产信贷增长主要由银行流动性状况决定,而不取决于房地产市场状况,但房地产市场供需状况会影响到房地产信贷结构变化,在价格上升时个人购房贷款增长明显,在价格下降时开发贷款增长明显。在短期内,银行信贷可作为平稳房地产市场波动的手段之一,但对于长期而言,只有构建完善的住房供应体系才能保持房地产市场的长期稳定。     

The Surprising Use of Credit Scoring in Small Business Lending by Community Banks and the Attendant Effects on Credit Availability, Risk, and Profitability

The literature has documented a positive relationship between the use of credit scoring for small business loans and small business credit availability, broadly defined. However, this literature is hampered by the fact that all of the studies are based on a single 1998 survey of the very largest U.S. banking organizations. This paper addresses a number of deficiencies in the extant literature by employing data from a new survey of the use of credit scoring in small business lending, primarily by community banks. The survey evidence suggests that the use of credit scores in small business lending by community banks is surprisingly widespread. Moreover, the scores employed tend to be the consumer credit scores of the small business owners, rather than the more encompassing small business credit scores that include data on the firms as well as on the owners. Our empirical analysis suggests that credit scoring is associated with an initial increase in small business lending activity that moderates over time and no change in the quality of the loan portfolio. Supplementary analysis suggests that the use of credit scores for small business lending has a negative initial effect on community bank profitability that moderates over time.     

我国房地产信贷调控对房地产周期的影响分析

本文研究房地产周期波动的成因中发现我国历史上有些房地产信贷调控助推了我国房地产周期波动,而对投资性购房实施的逆周期房地产信贷调控平缓了房地产周期波动。通过进一步计量分析房地产信贷与房地产周期的关系,得出我国房地产信贷政策与房地产周期之间的相关结论。最后提出建立逆周期房地产信贷调控机制来熨平房地产周期波动的政策建议。     

新常态下中国货币政策的宏观经济效应研究 ——基于不同中介目标的实证检验

以中国2003-2020年的季度宏观经济数据为样本,通过构建时变系数向量自回归模型分析银行间同业拆借利率、M2、信贷规模、社会融资规模四项货币政策中介目标对实际产出、通货膨胀、房地产市场以及股票市场的动态影响效应.结果表明:同业拆借利率对产出的影响呈增强趋势,M2、信贷以及社会融资规模等数量型货币政策对产出的影响效应更显著;信贷与社会融资规模对通货膨胀的影响效应较显著;同业拆借利率对房地产市场的短期影响效应较大;M2、信贷与社会融资规模对房地产与股票市场的长期影响效应较大.     

中国金融周期与横向关联:时空双维度相结合视角

宏观审慎政策关注各金融子市场在时间维度上的金融周期和空间维度上的横向关联。本文结合时间维度与空间维度视角,使用股票市场、货币市场、房地产市场以及信贷市场的数据,测算2001—2019年中国金融周期和横向关联的波动特征、作用关系与频域叠加机理。研究结果表明:时间维度金融周期与空间维度横向关联的波动趋势具有一致性。我国金融周期长度约为10.33年,横向关联波动周期的长度约为10.58年。从作用关系上看,首先,我国房地产周期达到波峰后,会对股票市场和信贷市场产生较强的溢出效应。随后,股市周期达到波峰后,会向房地产市场和信贷市场产生较强的溢出效应。最后,我国信贷市场接受股票市场和房地产市场溢出后,信贷周期会逐渐达到波峰。从频域叠加机理的角度看,我国金融子市场间横向关联的波动主要由中低频波段驱动,中低频波段横向关联的持续期在2个月以上。     

房地产金融对房地产市场发展的影响研究：北海实证

本文通过向量自回y-5模型（VAR）研究房地产金融对房地产市场的实际影响。选取北海市金融类和房地产市场类等4项指标，建立2个VAR模型系统；利用脉冲相应函数和方差分解方法，分析信贷市场指标变化对房地产市场供需影响的时滞、持续时间及作用强度。结果表明：北海房地产金融市场与房地产市场无论在长期还是短期都存在均衡关系，两者具有一定程度的共生性。基于以上分析，提出相应的政策建议。     

金融信贷与房地产价格关系分析——基于上海市实证研究

随着我国房价快速上涨,金融信贷规模进一步扩张,如何对房价进行调控,维护金融稳定成为亟需解决的问题.论文利用上海市2008年1月至2012年12月的月度数据,采用协整分析技术和向量误差修正模型方法对上海市金融信贷规模与房地产价格之间关系进行实证研究,避免了以往利用全国数据进行研究时固有的区域差异问题.上海市作为我国经济发展最发达的城市,其房地产市场、金融市场最具有代表性,研究结果也更具前瞻性.研究结果表明金融信贷规模与房地产价格从长期来看互为负向反馈作用,而在短期中,二者表现出正向反馈的推动作用.     

柳州市房地产信贷规模与房地产价格关系的实证分析

本文在对柳州市房地产市场发展的信贷支持进行定性分析的基础上,利用2003年1季度至2009年4季度的季度数据,运用多变量协整分析技术对房地产信贷与柳州房地产市场价格波动之间的关系进行实证检验,结果表明柳州房地产信贷规模变动是房地产价格变动的主要原因之一,但房地产信贷变化不是对房地产市场状况的反映。     

上市房地产企业零杠杆现象影响因素研究

我国上市房地产企业存在债务保守融资策略的零杠杆现象。基于1992～2010年的报表数据,运用Logistic回归方法,探究与企业融资策略有关的资金来源、企业特征变量、宏观经济环境和宏观政策四个方面的影响因素与企业是否选择零杠杆融资之间的相关性。实证结果表明,当货币资金、短期借款、商业信用融资充足,股票上市融资充分时,上市房地产企业倾向于零杠杆融资决策。与非零杠杆企业相比,这样的企业通常规模小、有形资产少、成长性高,对宏观经济环境变化敏感。     

Competition for small firm banking business: Bank actions versus market structure

This paper addresses two questions related to the ongoing consolidation of the US banking industry and its effect on small firm financing. First, are conventional measures of market structure (e.g. geographic market size and deposit concentration) related to bank competition for small firm financial business? Second, does an increase in bank competition produce an improvement in bank services irrespective of market structure? To answer these questions we use a survey of small firm owners that asks them to report on changes in bank competition for their business. Our findings show that reports of increased competition by small firm owners are negatively related to the level of and change in deposit concentration. In addition, we find a significant positive association between changes in bank competition reported by small firms and their reports of changes in banking outcomes (e.g. service quality) that is independent of deposit concentration, firm risk, and credit usage.     

非银行金融科技与上市公司借贷成本——竞争压力还是信息溢出？

金融科技作为技术驱动的金融创新,是深化金融供给侧结构性改革、增强金融服务实体经济能力的重要引擎。基于我国A股上市公司数据,本文实证分析了针对中小微企业和个人的非银行金融科技发展对上市公司借贷成本的溢出效应。结果表明,非银行金融科技发展每提高10%,上市公司借贷成本平均下降1.6个百分点。进一步分析表明,这一结果同时受到“竞争压力”与“信息溢出”两种机制的作用:前者表现为在银行业竞争程度更高的地区,非银行金融科技的发展更能显著降低企业的借贷成本;后者表现为,非银行金融科技的发展能够显著降低商业银行不良贷款率,同时也能降低商业银行业务及管理费用开支。本文探索金融科技如何影响上市公司融资成本,为金融科技进一步增强金融服务实体经济能力提供了新的启示。     

Real Estate Prices and Corporate Investment: Theory and Evidence of Heterogeneous Effects across Firms

In this paper, we investigate the effect of real estate prices on productive investment. We build a theoretical framework of firms' investment with credit rationing and real estate collateral. We show that real estate prices affect firms' borrowing capacities through two channels. An increase in real estate prices raises the value of the firms' pledgeable assets and mitigates the agency problem characterizing the creditor–entrepreneur relationship. It simultaneously cuts the expected profit due to the increase in the cost of inputs. We test our theoretical predictions using a large French database. We do find heterogeneous effects of real estate prices on productive investment depending on the position of the firms in the sectoral distributions of real estate holdings.     

The market for residential real estate brokerage services: Costs of production and economies of scale

Although the market for real estate brokerage services has been the subject of intense scrutiny for many years, little empirical evidence has been forthcoming regarding the performance of this market. This paper employs a translog cost function to model the underlying production function for the residential real estate brokerage industry. The results indicate that, except for very large firms, modest economies of scale persist throughout almost the entire range of output. Our results also indicate that while average firm size is increasing, many real estate firms are too small to take full advantage of the cost reductions possible with a larger scale of operation. Equally important, large firms do not command a competitive advantage over smaller firms, as fer as unit costs are concerned.     

Corporate real estate's impact on the takeover market

This article explores the issues and problems associated with corporate real estate ownership as viewed through the takeover market. The perception held by managers is that corporate real estate assets are unique, specialized assets. This perception conflicts with financial theory which states that the market values all corporate assets based only on their expected future cash flows. Thus corporate real estate assets are priced according to their cash flows and are like other corporate assets. This study tests the hypothesis that corporate real estate is a specialized asset by examining the impact real estate assets have on the takeover market. The study uses a logit regression model in order to attempt to predict which firms become takeover targets. If corporate real estate in general is a specialized asset, then real estate is expected to be an important variable in predicting takeover targets. Although the logit model has little predictive accuracy, results from the prediction model suggest that corporate real estate plays a significant part in determining the likelihood of a firm's becoming a takeover target. The greater the real estate holdings, the greater the likelihood of a firm's becoming a takeover target.     

How strong are the linkages between real estate and other sectors in China?

International experience points to the critical role of stable property markets in maintaining financial stability. This paper investigates the real and financial linkages between real estate sector and other sectors. The real linkage based on input–output analysis shows that the linkages have strengthened. The financial linkages in terms of credit risk spillovers across sectors are studied by using DAG method and SVAR. We find that that credit risk in the real estate sector has large-scale spillover effects onto other sectors. Consequently, shocks to the property market could have much larger impact on the Chinese economy than suggested by headline figures.     

How important are small banks to small business lending?: New evidence from a survey of small firms

Typically, small banks lend a larger proportion of their assets to small businesses than do large banks. The recent wave of bank mergers has thinned the ranks of small banks, raising the concern that small firms may find it difficult to access bank credit. However, bank consolidation will reduce small business credit only if small banks enjoy an advantage in lending to small businesses. We test the existence of a small bank cost advantage in small business lending by conducting the following simple test: If such advantages exist, then we should observe small businesses in areas with few small banks to have less bank credit. Using data on small business borrowers from the 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finance, we find that the probability of a small firm having a line of credit from a bank does not decrease in the long run when there are fewer small banks in the area, although short-run disruptions may occur. Nor do we find that firms in areas with few small banks are any more likely to repay trade credit late, suggesting that such firms are no more credit constrained than firms in areas with many small banks.     

货币传导异质性与实体经济流动性配置的“马太效应”

货币政策支持实体经济高质量发展的关键在于疏通货币政策传导机制,引导流动性进入重点领域和薄弱环节,因此货币资金的配置效率至关重要。本文基于交互效应面板分位数回归,测度货币政策对实体企业流动性的异质性效应。研究发现:在样本期内,实体经济流动性配置陷入了资金越充裕的企业越易于获得融资,越易于获得融资的企业资金越充裕的窘境。这种流动性配置的“马太效应”具体表现为,货币政策对尾部企业的支持力度不及头部企业的一半;虚拟经济对尾部企业的“分流效应”高达头部企业的3倍,从而强化了流动性配置的失衡。因此,当前密集出台的一系列普惠政策有助于提升流动性配置效率,进一步完善调控模式的关键在于健全现代化金融体系,增强货币政策的靶向性和针对性。     

Leverage and Taxes: Evidence from the Real Estate Industry

Finance theory has long viewed corporate income taxes as a potentially important determinant of corporate financing decisions and capital structures. But finance academics have been unable to provide convincing empirical evidence of a material effect of taxes on corporate leverage, in part because of difficulties in constructing an effective proxy for marginal corporate tax rates, and hence for the tax benefits of debt, for large samples of individual companies. The authors address this by analyzing leverage decisions in an industry whose publicly traded entities are organized either as taxable corporations, or as real estate investment trusts (REITs) that effectively avoid entity level taxation. This enables them to measure the relative tax benefits of debt with greater precision while controlling for important nontax characteristics that affect debt usage. The tax hypothesis predicts that for real estate firms with similar asset portfolios, taxable firms should have more debt than their nontaxable counterparts. Both the nontaxable and the taxable real estate firms in our sample routinely have more than twice the leverage of industrial firms, which suggests that factors other than taxes are contributing to their use of debt. But among real estate firms, tax status appears to play a much weaker role. Taxable firms have significantly more leverage only after 2000, when restrictions on REITs were removed through new regulations that made their operations much more like those of taxable real estate firms. Our findings also depend on real estate characteristics—most notably, only residential real estate firms demonstrated differences that are consistent with the tax hypothesis. Taken together, the authors’ findings suggest that although taxes do seem to matter, their role is clearly secondary relative to factors such as the nature of the firm’s assets. A generous interpretation of our evidence puts the effect of taxes between one‐third and one‐half of that implied by prior research.