Trade credit use and competition in the value chain

Trade credit is a major source of finance in value chains in developed and emerging economies. Despite its ubiquitous use, this is one of the first empirical studies that analyzes why the use of trade credit varies along the value chain. We argue that competition faced by firms at different stages in the value chain and enforcement mechanisms that stimulate repayment jointly determine the use of trade credit. We distinguish two dimensions of competition, that is, rivalry and customer bargaining power. Competition may stimulate firms to provide trade credit to keep customers from switching to other suppliers. Yet, high contract enforcement costs relative to the value of the transactions, reduce the willingness to offer trade credit. We find empirical evidence showing that competition does not (strongly) influence the use of trade credit in the retail market, whereas it does in the markets for wholesalers and millers. We interpret these results as suggestive evidence that the retail, wholesale and milling market segments differ in terms of the enforcement costs involved in the provision of trade credit. Rivalry at the retail market segment makes switching easy for customers, even in case of default. As enforcement of repayment in this market segment is difficult and costly, trade credit appears to be a risky and less attractive marketing instrument for retailers. In contrast, in the wholesale and milling market segment, trade credit is widespread as stakeholders know each other, making informal mechanisms effective in supporting the enforcement of trade credit repayment.     

Bank distress and firms’ investment during the Great Recession - evidence from Ireland

This article investigates the impact of bank distress on firms’ performance using unique data during the Great Recession for Ireland. The results show that bank distress, measured as banks’ credit default swap spreads (CDS), has negatively and statistically significantly affected firms’ investment expenditures. Interestingly, firms with access to alternative sources of external finance are not impacted by bank distress. The results are robust to accounting for external finance dependence, demand and trade sensitivities, which affect firm performance and the demand for credit.     

The impact of credit constraints on the performance of Chinese agricultural wholesalers

This article evaluates the impact of credit constraints on the performance of Chinese agricultural wholesalers. We estimate a stochastic frontier function using transaction and credit data of agricultural wholesalers from across China to estimate the efficiency and productivity impacts of credit constraints on sales of affected agricultural wholesalers. Empirical results show that micro- and smaller wholesalers are disproportionally impacted by credit constraints and that eliminating these constraints would increase the sales of affected agricultural wholesalers by approximately 15%. Thus, policies aimed at providing credit access for these wholesalers would significantly boost the performance of smaller agricultural wholesalers while improving the overall performance of the Chinese food supply chain without requiring additional non-credit inputs.     

Firm credit in the euro area: a tale of three crises

Using survey data from 2009 to 2011, we analyse the effects of the recent euro area economic, financial and private debt crisis on the supply of and demand for bank finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). At the country level, we identify three distinct aspects of the recent crisis in the euro area affecting firm credit through different channels. Controlling for country fixed effects, the impact of a weak real economy on firm credit operates both by reducing firms’ demand for bank financing and by lenders increasing loan rejections and tightening terms and conditions on credit allocated. On the other hand, financial conditions have no significant effect on demand, but they do affect credit supply as we find that financial tensions worsen the chances of obtaining credit and its terms and conditions. We interpret this as evidence of a bank balance sheet channel negatively impacting credit provision. We find that private sector indebtedness has important effects on SMEs’ credit access and its terms and conditions.     

Monitoring structural changes within the wholesale and retail trades

This research measures changes in employment trends for wholesalers and retailers by applying the entropy measure over a thirteen-year period. It was found that the trade sector is becoming more concentrated, due mainly to a higher degree of concentration within the wholesale area.     

Permissible delay period and pricing decisions in a two-echelon supply chain

Suppliers often offer trade credits to their capital-constrained retailers to stimulate more sales. The permissible delay period, as a variable factor, influences almost all decisions in a trade credit contract. In this article, we consider a two-echelon supply chain involving a supplier and a capital-constrained retailer in which the demand is the retail price- and time-dependent. We propose a decision model to determine the optimal delay period and pricing decisions under a noncooperative Stackelberg game with the supplier as the leader. We obtain the analytical-form optimal solutions. Our analysis reveals the influence of the delay period on the wholesale and retail prices. Numerical examples further clarify our theoretical results.     

基于扎根理论的ECR系统界面协同效应研究

ECR是一种通过供应链管理(Supply Chain Management,SCM)的制造商、批发商和零售商等各自经济活动的整合,以最低成本、最快、最好地实现顾客多样化需求的流通模式,旨在消除整个供应链(Supply Chain,SC)没有为消费者增加值的成本,涉及到SC各个节点组织界面紧密协调与合作。本文通过对ECR系统的研究,建立具有高效反应能力和以客户需求为基础的系统,既提高了供应链的效率又为客户提供了更好地服务。文章通过对48家企业调查问卷,收集与分析资料,建立ECR系统界面的数学模型,借助扎根理论进行分析,提出运营ECR系统应采取的方法,供应链通过这些方法可以以更经济的方式把商品送到消费者手中,满足消费者个性化需求。     

Trade credit, bank lending and monetary policy transmission

This paper investigates the role of trade credit in the transmission of monetary policy. Most models of the transmission mechanism allow firms to access only financial markets or bank lending according to some net worth criterion. In our model we consider external finance from trade credit as an additional source of funding for firms that cannot obtain credit from banks. We predict that when monetary policy tightens there will be a reduction in bank lending relative to trade credit. This is confirmed with an empirical investigation of 16,000 UK manufacturing firms.     

Contagion effects of sovereign credit rating revisions on the real economy: is it trade or finance?

We analyse the contagion effects of sovereign credit rating revisions on the real economy, with particular emphasis on the intensity of trade and finance channels. Our findings show that event countries that experienced rating revisions cause substantial contagion effects on the real output growth rates of nonevent countries. Nonevent countries with a high export ratio, high external debt levels, or those that are more dependent on common bank credit relative to other nonevent countries are more likely to be infected by event countries’ adverse credit shocks. The results remain after accounting for alternative real economy indicators, financial liberalization, financial crises, and economic development status.     

基于需求层次的农村信贷供给体系重构研究——来自湘潭农村信贷市场的调查分析

多样化的农村经济主体的信贷需求在其融资次序下表现为多层次特征,但外生性、强制性的农村信贷制度供给却与这种层次态的信贷需求之间存在矛盾。只有改变传统的信贷供给逻辑,在内生性制度变迁的基础上,通过对农村非正规金融进行引导,主动地组建适应农村信贷需求的新型信贷机构,并对现有农村信贷供给主体进行功能整合,才能提高农村信贷供给制度的适应效率。     

基于系统动力学的房地产调控政策动态仿真模型

从供需两个方面综合分析了土地政策、税收政策和金融政策对我国房地产市场的影响路径和传导机理。运用系统动力学分析原理,构建了房地产调控政策动态分析模型,并利用计算机软件进行仿真模拟。对拟实施政策效果进行比较分析的结果显示:土地政策对我国房地产市场的影响最大,税收政策对房地产供给市场的影响比对需求市场的影响大;同时调节利率工具和信贷工具变量,金融政策仍对我国房地产市场的影响不大。最后提出,我国应将调控供给作为调控房地产市场的重点。     

Does Over-credit Stimulate Corporate Investment? Evidence from Listed Companies in China

We define and quantify for the first time over-credit at the firm level, which refers to the case in which the amount of bank credit that a firm obtains exceeds its expenditure on corporate investment for the year. Then, we explore how over-credit affects corporate investment to determine whether credit expansion in China is consistent with the principle of finance serving the real economy. The results show that over-credit promotes firm investment, and this effect was enhanced by the housing boom. However, the effect of the property market reversed after 2012, owing to China’s economic transition from a quantitative to a structural mismatch between supply and demand. Finally, we explore how over-credit affects the capacity utilization ratio and whether it has aggravated the overcapacity problem in China. The results show that over-credit reduces firms’ capacity utilization ratio. This finding indicates that excessive credit expansion has exacerbated the overcapacity problem in China.     

R&D investment,cash holdings and the financial crisis: evidence from Korean corporate data

This article examines the real effects of the financial crisis in 2008 on corporate R&D investment by analyzing firm-level panel data from 2005 to 2011 obtained from KIS-VALUE, a Korean corporate finance database. I estimate a dynamic panel model of R&D investment that includes an after-crisis dummy to reflect the effects of the external finance supply shock after the financial crisis, an interaction term of the dummy and cash holdings to measure the marginal effect of cash holdings after the crisis, investment opportunities (sales and the q ratio) and financial positions as the debt-equity ratio. The estimation implies a negative yet relatively small impact of the credit supply shock from the financial crisis on R&D investment and the mitigation of the negative impacts by cash holdings after the onset of the financial crisis, whereas the data show decreasing R&D investment and sales for the whole period. Based on the data and the estimation, I find that firms were able to lessen the pressure from diminishing market demand before the crisis using external finance, but they had to use internal financial sources after the crisis smooth R&D investment.     

Credit constraints,inequality and the growth gains from trade

This paper tests the hypothesis that, in the presence of credit constraints, higher wealth inequality affects negatively the growth gains from trade liberalisation. Variations in the growth rate of value added–decomposed in the growth rate of the number of establishments and the growth rate in average size–of manufacturing industries in 34 developing countries before and after trade liberalisation are used to study the effects of inequality on the difference in growth under liberalised and nonliberalised regimes. The results show that the number of firms in industries with high dependence on external finance in countries with higher inequality grow significantly slower, in both statistical and economic terms, than in industries with low dependence on external finance in countries with lower inequality following a trade liberalisation relative to the closed-economy period.     

The demand and supply of credit for households

The demand and supply of credit in the rural credit markets is investigated in this article using household data from India. The aim is to study the effects of household, farm productive characteristics and the policy variables on the demand and supply of credit. A type 3 Tobit model is estimated which corrects for sample selection and endogeniety bias. In addition, a generalized Double Hurdle model is estimated where the information on the household's access to credit is included to estimate the demand and supply of credit. The results suggest that the size of the operational holdings, net-wealth, dependency ratio, educational level of the household and the wages and output prices are important determinants of the demand and supply of credit for farm households. The Double Hurdle model confirms that the ‘size of land owned’ plays a crucial role in whether the household has access to a loan or not.     

Access to credit and its determinants: A comparison of survey‐based measures

Measuring access to finance represents an important challenge in empirical studies. Due to data limitations, perception‐based indicators or the usage of finance are often used as approximations of access to finance. However, these approximations disregard firm‐specific differences in the demand for finance. We derive a direct measure of access to credit from firm‐level survey data and explicitly model credit demand. We study the determinants of access to credit and disentangle, in contrast to other measures, their effects on demand for and access to credit. We find that the usage of credit is not a sufficient approximation, while perception‐based indicators are surprisingly precise.     

商业信用能否成为企业有效的融资渠道——基于投资视角的分析

本文使用中国工业企业数据验证了企业获得的商业信用能否成为企业有效的融资渠道这一问题。在考虑了中国信贷市场存在的信贷歧视等问题后,结果显示,中国企业能够利用商业信用作为融资渠道,而且,对于小企业,私营企业以及外部金融环境较差的企业,商业信用对其融资帮助更大。当正规部门融资成本上升时,国有及外资企业以及外部金融环境良好的企业能够更为有效地使用商业信用作为融资渠道。     

Wholesalers in international trade

Recent empirical research in international trade has revealed overwhelming evidence that, in all countries, a remarkably small proportion of firms report exports in Customs statistics. However, a large share of these are wholesalers. This suggests that the number of producers selling their products abroad might be much greater than that suggested by a simple count of the firms directly reporting their exports. This paper sheds light on the role of wholesalers in international trade. Our model uses very general assumptions to show that intermediated exporters may contribute significantly to the extension of countries' export opportunities. The model predicts a twofold role in international trade. First, wholesalers alleviate the difficulty of reaching less-accessible markets. Second, they help less-efficient firms to supply foreign markets, thus increasing the number of exported varieties at the aggregate level. We use French firm-level export data to provide empirical support for these two predictions.     

Trade liberalization,wilful credit defaults and bank bribery in a credit-constrained economy

The rising incidence of credit defaults may cause credit crunch. This affects the ability of firms to finance working capital and also fixed capital formation. Naturally, this is a major macroeconomic shock. This paper is an attempt to address the microeconomic foundation of such macroeconomic shock. We provide a theoretical framework to explain the economic rationale behind ‘wilful corporate defaults’ and ‘financial corruption’ in the specific context of trade liberalization. First, we model the behavioural aspects of wilful corporate defaulters and bank officials to determine the bank bribe rate as an outcome of the Nash bargaining process in a two-stage sequential move game. Based on the results of the partial equilibrium framework, we examine aspects of trade liberalization in an otherwise 2 × 2 general equilibrium framework. We also compare the efficacy of punishment strategies to economic incentives to deter credit defaults and banking sector corruption. Methodologically, our analytical model integrates finance capital distinctly from physical capital in Jonesian general equilibrium framework. Interestingly, our findings indicate that there exists a trade-off at equilibrium between curbing credit defaults and bribery. We also find that not all punishment strategies are equally effective at deterring credit defaults if general equilibrium interlinkage effects are carefully dealt with.     

Trade liberalization and credit constraints: Why opening up may fail to promote convergence

This paper examines credit constraints as one channel held responsible for hampering economic convergence between countries. Specifically, we extend a Melitz and Ottaviano ( 2008 ) type trade model with variable mark‐ups to allow for endogenous technology adoption. We consider a framework with two countries that potentially differ with respect to credit market development. Firms have the option to adopt a more efficient technology by paying some fixed cost that is more costly to finance for financially constrained firms. We find that technology adoption increases in both countries after trade liberalization but more so in the financially more developed country: the productivity gap widens. Simulations show that the welfare gap widens too. Opening up without sufficient access to external funding thus fails to promote convergence.