Home bias and high turnover: Dynamic portfolio choice with incomplete markets

Why do investors trade a lot in foreign assets and hold so little of them in their portfolios? This paper shows that both observations can arise naturally in the presence of nondiversifiable nontraded consumption risk when each country specializes in production, preferences exhibit consumption home bias, and asset markets are incomplete. Using a general equilibrium two-country, two-sector (tradable and nontradable) model of the world economy with production I show that low diversification occurs because variations in relative prices (i) increase the riskiness of foreign assets and (ii) facilitate risk-sharing across countries. Large and volatile capital flows are necessary to take advantage of international risk premia differentials that occur in response to productivity changes in the nontradable sector. I characterize the optimal portfolio holdings, the evolution of the investment opportunity set, the risk premium, and the dynamics of capital flows using a new methodology for solving dynamic general equilibrium models with incomplete markets and portfolio choice.     

Monetary policy and bank risk-taking: Evidence from emerging economies

This paper addresses the impact of monetary policy on banks' risk-taking by using bank-level panel data from more than 1000 banks in 29 emerging economies during 2000–2012. We find that, consistent with the proposition of the “bank risk-taking channel” of monetary policy transmission, banks' riskiness increases when monetary policy is eased. This result is robust when we adopt alternative measures of monetary policy and bank risk, and use different econometric methodologies. In addition, we find that bank risk-taking amid expansionary monetary policy is less conspicuous in a more consolidated banking sector and when monetary policy is more transparent.     

Aid,Aid Volatility and Sectoral Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Finance Matter?

This article examines the impact of aid and its volatility on sectoral growth by relying on panel dataset of 37 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period 1983–2014. Findings from the system-generalized methods of moments show that, while foreign aid significantly drives sectoral growth, aid volatility deteriorates sectoral value additions impacting heavily on non-tradable sectors with no apparent effect on the agricultural sector. The deleterious effect of aid volatility on sectoral value additions in SSA is weakened by a well-developed financial system with significant impact on the tradable sector. Evidently, development of domestic financial markets enhances aid effectiveness.     

Current Account Adjustment in the Eurozone: Lessons From a Flexible Price Model

This paper discusses the desired size of the internal devaluation in the Eurozone for a scenario of current account adjustment induced by shifts in relative demand. Based on Obstfeld and Rogoff, I develop a four‐region model of the world economy consisting of the Eurozone‐core, Eurozone‐periphery, United States and Asia. In contrast to most of the existing literature, this model structure enables studying the impact of global current account adjustment on the rebalancing process in the Eurozone. In addition, the model allows for movements of factors of production between tradable and non‐tradable sectors. The results point to the important impact of sectoral reallocation and increases in Asian demand on the size of the internal devaluation as well as on the implied length of the adjustment period.     

Bank branching deregulation and the credit risk of the regional banking sector: Evidence from city commercial banks in China

From 2006 to 2011, with the change in regulatory policies, most regions of China relaxed restrictions on the intercity branching of city commercial banks, which led to a significant increase in the number of nonlocal branches of city commercial banks. We assess the impact of this bank branching deregulation on the credit risk of the regional banking sector across 286 prefecture-level cities in China. We find that deregulation has increased the credit risk of the regional banking sector in host cities by intensifying competition and encouraging risk-taking behaviors such as “lowering lending criteria” and “attracting deposits with higher interest”. Moreover, this effect becomes more pronounced in regions with a higher initial level of the loan-to-deposit ratio and regions with a higher initial level of competition in the banking sector.     

新冠肺炎疫情下逆周期信贷政策效用研究：基于企业资产负债表渠道与银行风险承担渠道视角

文章以对冲COVID-19疫情影响的逆周期信贷政策实施作为“准自然实验”，运用PSM-DID模型，测度逆周期信贷政策对实体企业经营效率的影响(简称“逆周期信贷政策效用”)，考察其企业资产负债表渠道与银行风险承担渠道的微观传导机制及路径，分析逆周期信贷政策效用的异质性。研究发现，逆周期信贷政策的实施显著修复了实体企业的经营效率，并具有随时间动态边际递增特征。同时，该政策具有“双渠道”传导特点，主要通过调节效应路径发挥作用。此外，该逆周期信贷政策效用受到企业性质、行业及区域的异质性影响。文章研究结论不仅拓展了现存文献，也为完善逆周期信贷政策设计和调控机制提供了决策参考依据。     

转型期货币渠道与信贷渠道有效性的实证研究

本文运用基于VAR模型的时间序列分析方法对我国转型期货币渠道与信贷渠道的有效性进行了实证研究。脉冲响应函数分析表明产出和通货膨胀对贷款冲击的响应比其对货币供给冲击的响应更为显著,预测方差的分解结果证实贷款对产出和通货膨胀的贡献率均远远大于货币供给量的贡献率,故转型期内信贷渠道相对于货币渠道更为有效。因此,为增强货币政策的有效性,中央银行应同时监控货币和信贷指标,货币政策操作也要以有效调节私人部门的信贷可得量为基础。     

同业业务发展、货币政策传导与银行风险承担

商业银行同业业务逐渐从传统信用拆借演变为类信贷业务,一些银行通过同业业务实施监管套利、风险资产出表,同业业务的快速发展对原有货币政策传导体系形成干扰,甚至改变了商业银行的风险承担渠道。使用25家A股上市银行2008-2018年数据,在理论和实证两个方面分析了同业业务发展对银行风险承担的影响。理论上,同业业务能够提高银行风险承担水平和强化货币政策风险承担渠道,上述影响并同时对于不同银行伴有异质性。实证结论验证了理论推演的假设:同业业务发展与银行风险承担水平正相关,并对货币政策银行风险承担渠道具有强化作用;同业业务对大型银行的风险承担水平影响有限,但对股份制银行和中小银行的风险承担水平表现了较强的正相关性。分析货币政策风险承担渠道,中小银行对货币宽松与否更为敏感,其同业业务发展程度与货币宽松情况表现出较强的相关性。根据上述研究结论,监管政策应当更加关注银行体系分层结构下的同业业务发展引导,尤其是对于股份制银行和中小银行,应当逐步引导同业业务占比较高银行压缩同业资产,鼓励商业银行业务回归本源,支持实体经济发展。     

The trade credit channel revisited: evidence from micro data of Japanese small firms

It is suggested that trade credit can be a substitute for bank loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have little access to external funding sources. Using unique cross-sectional survey data of Japanese SMEs, we conduct a deep investigation into the substitutability between bank loans and trade credit. This survey contains rich information on the suppliers of trade credit to SMEs, thus enabling the examination of the channel through which credit is provided from suppliers to customers. We find that SMEs with little access to bank credit depend more on large suppliers for trade credit. We also find that when a purchase is made from a large supplier, more credit is indeed provided in the form of trade credit. Furthermore, this channel of credit from large suppliers to SMEs is only observed for solvent customers, not for insolvent customers. Our findings suggest that trade credit plays an important role for entrepreneurial firms over the financial growth cycle. For young and small firms with little access to bank loans trade credit is an important funding source.     

The role of trade credit in the recent subprime financial crisis

This study tests firms’ financing behavior, especially the causal relation between trade credit and bank credit around the time of the recent subprime financial crises. I find bank credit and accounts payable/receivable are simultaneously determined and there is a substitute/complementary effect between bank credit and accounts payable/receivable. Moreover, I test a cross-sectional response to crisis and find that firms with a more vulnerable financial position (i.e., financially constrained firms) are more likely to be negatively affected by crisis and, in turn, are more likely to cut their supply of credit to customers and increase their use of credit from suppliers.     

腐败对银行不良贷款的影响--基于中国省级动态面板数据GMM方法

运用动态GMM回归方法,探讨了2005－2013年我国各地区腐败与银行不良贷款之间的关系,结果表明：腐败程度与银行不良贷款规模正相关。同时,银行信贷规模增加会导致不良贷款增加,而经济发展水平、非国有化程度提高,政府干预程度以及企业资产负债率提高都能抑制我国银行业不良贷款增加。据此,提出如下政策建议：继续加大对腐败案件的查处力度,完善相关法律法规体系;商业银行应建立科学有效的风险防范机制;政府职能应由干预型向服务型转变,在提高经济增速的同时加快提高经济非国有化程度;企业应合理利用银行贷款,控制贷款资金流向。     

Financial development,sectoral reallocation,and volatility: International evidence

This paper studies how financial development affects the volatility of GDP growth through the channel of sectoral reallocation. For 28 OECD countries over the period 1970–2007, we construct a benchmark industrial portfolio that minimizes the economy's long-term volatility for a given level of long-term labor productivity growth. We find that financial development substantially increases the speed with which the observed industrial composition of output converges toward the benchmark. To overcome endogeneity concerns, we exploit sectoral sensitivities to financial deepening and exogenous liberalization events.     

Trade Credit,Bank Credit,and Flight to Quality: Evidence from French SMEs

This paper investigates the impact of the global financial crisis on the allocation of credit to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Using samples of French SMEs from four industries, we found support for the prediction of the flight‐to‐quality hypothesis that in bad times, credit flows away from smaller constrained firms to larger, higher grade firms. We also examined the relation between bank credit and trade credit in terms of two hypotheses: the substitution hypothesis and the complementary hypothesis. The results of fixed effects panel regressions showed that trade credit for small firms during periods of tight money acts generally as complement rather than substitute to bank credit, thus providing empirical support for the redistribution view of trade credit.     

Export Credit Guarantees and Export Performance: An Empirical Analysis for Germany

Recent literature finds that exporters are particularly vulnerable to financial market frictions. As a consequence, exports may be lower than their efficient levels. For this reason, many countries support exporters by underwriting export credit guarantees. The empirical evidence on the effects of those policies is, however, very limited. In this paper, we use sectoral data on export credit guarantees issued by the German government. We investigate whether those guarantees indeed do increase exports and whether they remedy the export‐restricting effect of credit market imperfections both on the sectoral and on the export‐market levels. Exploiting the sectoral structure of a rich three‐way panel data set of German exports, we control for unobserved heterogeneity on the country‐year, sector‐year and country‐sector dimensions. We document a robust export‐increasing effect of guarantees. There is some evidence that the effect is larger for export markets with poor financial institutions and in sectors that rely more on external finance.     

The influence of risk-taking on bank efficiency: Evidence from Colombia

This paper shows evidence on the influence of risk-taking on bank efficiency in emerging markets and identifies heterogeneity in the way risk affects banks with different characteristics. We fit a stochastic frontier model with random inefficiency parameters to a sample of Colombian banks. The model provides accurate cost and profit efficiency estimates. The effects of risk-taking on efficiency vary with size and affiliation. Large and foreign banks benefit more from higher exposure to credit and market risk, while domestic and small banks from being more capitalised. We identify some channels explaining these differences and provide insights for prudential regulation.     

Die Transmission über den Zinskanal: von der Geldpolitik zur Kreditnachfrage

Through more favourable funding costs for commercial banks, the central bank can send expansionary monetary stimuli into the real economy to boost the demand for credit. In this regard, one of the most important channels for the transmission of monetary policy is the interest rate channel. This contribution analyses the effectiveness of the interest rate channel in the eurozone. It comes to the conclusion that the transmission of the expansive monetary stimulus into the banking sector works well, but that the transmission of the stimulus to the real economy is partly inhibited. The main factors that dampen credit demand are higher real interest rates as well as low growth and higher indebtedness, especially in the eurozone’s peripheral countries.     

The influence of bank ownership on credit supply: Evidence from the recent financial crisis

This study examines how bank ownership influenced the credit supply during the recent financial crisis in Russia, where the banking sector consists of a mix of state-controlled banks, foreign-owned banks, and domestic private banks. To estimate credit supply changes, we apply an original approach based on stochastic frontier analysis. We use quarterly data for Russian banks covering the period from the beginning of 2007 to the end of 2009. Our findings suggest that bank ownership affected credit supply during the financial crisis and that the crisis led to an overall decrease in the credit supply. Relative to domestic private banks foreign-owned banks reduced their credit supply more and state-controlled banks less. This supports the hypothesis that foreign banks have a “lack of loyalty” to domestic actors during a crisis, as well as the view that an objective function of state-controlled banks leads them to support the economy during economic downturns.     

银行信贷与宏观经济波动:2003—2009

基于中国宏观经济金融的现实环境,通过构建反映宏观经济变量之间内在联系的结构向量自回归(SVAR)模型,实证检验2003年以来银行信贷投放对中国宏观经济波动的影响。结果表明:一方面,中国信贷规模资金的投放对宏观经济的稳定发展产生了重要的推动作用,但是信贷投放对经济增长的冲击效应会随着时间的变化逐渐趋弱;另一方面,短期来看,信贷资金的大规模投放不会对物价水平的攀升产生影响,但由于其是物价变动的主要因素,在长期内,必须合理估计中国将来在物价水平调控方面可能面临的较大压力。     

Funding Gaps? Access To Bank Loans By High-Tech Start-Ups

This paper aims to shed new light on start-up financing of new technology-based firms (NTBFs) and the existence of credit constraints that may negatively affect their activity. For this purpose, we analyze the different sources of start-up financing used by NTBFs and investigate several characteristics that may influence the extent of recourse to bank loans. In the empirical section, we consider a sample composed of 386 Italian NTBFs that operate both in manufacturing and services. We estimate double-censored tobit and bivariate tobit models so as to highlight the determinants of (i) the financial leverage, measured by the ratio of bank debt to total capital, and (ii) the amounts of personal capital and bank loans of firms at start-up, respectively. Our findings support the view that the credit market is imperfect and there exists a financing hierarchy. In fact, only a minority of firms resorts to outside financing, and especially to bank debt. In addition, the level of financial leverage is not random; it increases with an increase of the predicted amount of firms’ total initial capital, while it decreases with variables such as the number of owners and the work experience of founders that are indicative of greater personal wealth available to finance firms’ start-up. Lastly, the size of the bank loans obtained by firms generally is small and it is quite insensitive to demand-side factors that instead determine the amount of personal and total capital, with the notable exception of scale economies in the industry of the start-up. In other words, in accordance with the argument that credit to NTBFs is rationed, the loan supply curve is highly inelastic, even though not perfectly so.