IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/onb/oenbmp/y2021iq2-21b2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The share of zombie firms among Austrian nonfinancial companies

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Beer

    (Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division)

  • Norbert Ernst
  • Walter Waschiczek

    (Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Economic Analysis Division)

Abstract

Aggregate productivity and economic growth may be reduced by “zombie firms” – weakly performing companies that, instead of exiting the market or being restructured, manage to continue operating over an extended period. This article presents first results on the incidence of such zombie firms in Austria, based on three definitions relating to firms’ interest expenses but focusing on different aspects thereof. The main definition measures interest expenses as a ratio of earnings (“interest coverage ratio”). The other two definitions are based on the relationship of interest expenses to liabilities and enhance this information either with firms’ probability of default or their interest coverage ratio. According to all three definitions, the share of zombies fell substantially (even if to different degrees) between 2009 and 2018, across industries and firm sizes. The drop of the zombie share was particularly strong for highly leveraged enterprises. Still, at the end of our observation period, zombie firms continued to have less favorable risk characteristics than non-zombie firms, in particular a distinctly higher probability of default. How this pattern may have changed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen because our data do not go beyond 2018. Somewhat reassuringly, zombie firms are not more prevalent in those industries that were hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Further findings were obtained with simulations keeping the policy interest rate unchanged over the period under review. Under this assumption, the zombie share established with firms’ interest coverage ratio would have remained roughly constant. The difference between the observed and the simulated zombie shares is particularly pronounced for real estate-related industries, more leveraged firms, and larger companies. Finally, the data show that zombie status is not irreversible. Among those firms for which financial statements information is available for the entire observation period, most zombie firms manage to exit from zombie status.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Beer & Norbert Ernst & Walter Waschiczek, 2021. "The share of zombie firms among Austrian nonfinancial companies," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q2/21, pages 35-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:onb:oenbmp:y:2021:i:q2/21:b:2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.oenb.at/dam/jcr:45937cab-6e83-4a57-9cc5-57b56c3af9db/04_mop_Q2_21_The-share-of-zombie-firms.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Viral V. Acharya & Matteo Crosignani & Tim Eisert & Christian Eufinger, 2020. "Zombie Credit and (Dis-)Inflation: Evidence from Europe," NBER Working Papers 27158, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Viral V Acharya & Tim Eisert & Christian Eufinger & Christian Hirsch, 2019. "Whatever It Takes: The Real Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(9), pages 3366-3411.
    3. Bronwyn H. Hall, 2010. "The Financing of Innovative Firms," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 1(1).
    4. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    5. Storz, Manuela & Koetter, Michael & Setzer, Ralph & Westphal, Andreas, 2017. "Do we want these two to tango? On zombie firms and stressed banks in Europe," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    6. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    7. Dan Andrews & Filippos Petroulakis, 2017. "Breaking the Shackles: Zombie Firms, Weak Banks and Depressed Restructuring in Europe," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1433, OECD Publishing.
    8. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews & Valentine Millot & Thorsten BeckManaging Editor, 2018. "The walking dead? Zombie firms and productivity performance in OECD countries," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 33(96), pages 685-736.
    9. Borio, Claudio & Zhu, Haibin, 2012. "Capital regulation, risk-taking and monetary policy: A missing link in the transmission mechanism?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 236-251.
    10. Ryan Banerjee & Boris Hofmann, 2022. "Corporate zombies: anatomy and life cycle," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 37(112), pages 757-803.
    11. Giacomo Rodano & Enrico Sette, 2019. "Zombie firms in Italy: a critical assessment," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 483, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Ryan Niladri Banerjee & Boris Hofmann, 2018. "The rise of zombie firms: causes and consequences," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, September.
    13. Ferrando, Annalisa & Martinez-Carrascal, Carmen, 2008. "The impact of financial position on investment: an anlysis for non-financial corporations in the euro area," Working Paper Series 943, European Central Bank.
    14. Claus Puhr & Martin Schneider, 2021. "Have mitigating measures helped prevent insolvencies in Austria amid the COVID-19 pandemic?," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q4/20-Q1/, pages 77-110.
    15. Christian Beer & Walter Waschiczek, 2019. "Equity ratios of Austrian nonfinancial corporations – evidence from balance sheet data," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q3/19, pages 25-41.
    16. Ernest Gnan & Maria Teresa Valderrama & Walter Waschiczek, 2019. "Financing conditions in Austria since the introduction of the euro," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1-Q2/19, pages 57-70.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Norbert Ernst & Nico Pintar & Richard Sellner, 2023. "Resource Misallocation and TFP Gap Development in Austria (Richard Sellner, Nico Pintar, Norbert Ernst)," Working Papers 246, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).
    2. Fabian Herweg & Maximilian Kähny, 2022. "Do Zombies Rise when Interest Rates Fall? A Relationship Banking Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 9628, CESifo.
    3. Kaehny, Maximilian & Herweg, Fabian, 2022. "Do Zombies Rise When Interest Rates Fall? A Relationship-Banking Model," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264126, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    4. Norbert Ernst & Michael Sigmund, 2023. "Are zombie firms really contagious? (Norbert Ernst, Michael Sigmund)," Working Papers 245, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maximilian Gobel & Nuno Tavares, 2022. "Zombie-Lending in the United States -- Prevalence versus Relevance," Papers 2201.10524, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    2. Álvarez, Laura & García-Posada, Miguel & Mayordomo, Sergio, 2023. "Distressed firms, zombie firms and zombie lending: A taxonomy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Diana Bonfim & Geraldo Cerqueiro & Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2023. "On-Site Inspecting Zombie Lending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(5), pages 2547-2567, May.
    4. Özlem Dursun-de Neef, H. & Schandlbauer, Alexander, 2021. "COVID-19 and lending responses of European banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    5. Simona Malovaná & Josef Bajzík & Dominika Ehrenbergerová & Jan Janků, 2023. "A prolonged period of low interest rates in Europe: Unintended consequences," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 526-572, April.
    6. Luc Laeven & Glenn Schepens & Isabel Schnabel, 2020. "Zombification in Europe in times of pandemic," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 011, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    7. Nurmi, Satu & Vanhala, Juuso & Virén, Matti, 2022. "Are zombies for real? Evidence from zombie dynamics," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Kaehny, Maximilian & Herweg, Fabian, 2022. "Do Zombies Rise When Interest Rates Fall? A Relationship-Banking Model," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264126, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    9. Feng, Ling & Lang, Henan & Pei, Tingting, 2022. "Zombie firms and corporate savings: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 551-564.
    10. Mingarelli, Luca & Ravanetti, Beatrice & Shakir, Tamarah & Wendelborn, Jonas, 2022. "Dawn of the (half) dead: the twisted world of zombie identification," Working Paper Series 2743, European Central Bank.
    11. Moritz Schularick, 2021. "Corporate indebtedness and macroeconomic stabilisation from a long-term perspective," ECONtribute Policy Brief Series 024, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    12. Hartwig, Benny & Lieberknecht, Philipp, 2020. "Monetary policy, firm exit and productivity," Discussion Papers 61/2020, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    13. Tuuli, Saara, 2023. "Who funds zombie firms: Banks or non-banks?," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 2/2023, Bank of Finland.
    14. Bianca Barbaro & Patrizio Tirelli, 2023. "Forbearance vs foreclosure in a general equilibrium model," Working Papers 516, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics.
    15. Fabian Herweg & Maximilian Kähny, 2022. "Do Zombies Rise when Interest Rates Fall? A Relationship Banking Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 9628, CESifo.
    16. Viral V. Acharya & Ryan N. Banerjee & Matteo Crosignani & Tim Eisert & Renée Spigt, 2022. "Exorbitant Privilege? Quantitative Easing and the Bond Market Subsidy of Prospective Fallen Angels," Staff Reports 1004, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    17. Paola Vincentiis, 2021. "What drives the greater or lesser usage of forbearance measures by banks?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 181-190, September.
    18. Choudhary, M. Ali & Jain, Anil K., 2021. "Corporate stress and bank nonperforming loans: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. Leire San-Jose & Sara Urionabarrenetxea & Jose-Domingo García-Merino, 2022. "Zombie firms and corporate governance: What room for maneuver do companies have to avoid becoming zombies?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 835-862, April.
    20. El Ghoul, Sadok & Fu, Zhengwei & Guedhami, Omrane, 2021. "Zombie firms: Prevalence, determinants, and corporate policies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    zombie firms; firm behavior;

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:onb:oenbmp:y:2021:i:q2/21:b:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Rita Glaser-Schwarz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/oenbbat.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.