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Switching costs in local credit markets

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  • Guglielmo Barone

    () (Bank of Italy)

  • Roberto Felici

    () (Bank of Italy)

  • Marcello Pagnini

    () (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

Switching costs are a key determinant of market performance. This paper tests their existence in the corporate loan market in which they are likely to play a central role because of the complexity of contracts and informational problems. Using very detailed data at bank-firm level on four Italian local credit markets we empirically show that firms tend to iterate their choice of the main bank over time. This inertia is not related to unobserved and time invariant preferences of firms across banks and can be attributed to the existence of switching costs. We also offer evidence that banks price discriminate between new and old borrowers by charging lower interest rates to the former in order to cover part of the switching costs. The discount is about 44 basis points, equal to 7 per cent of the average interest rate. These results prove robust to a number of other potential identification drawbacks.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area in its series Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) with number 760.

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Date of creation: Jun 2010
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Handle: RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_760_10

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Web page: http://www.bancaditalia.it
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Keywords: switching costs; local credit markets; price discrimination; lending relationships;

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  1. Brownstone, David & Bunch, David S. & Train, Kenneth, 2000. "Joint mixed logit models of stated and revealed preferences for alternative-fuel vehicles," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 315-338, June.
  2. Ralf Elsas & Frank Heinemann & Marcel Tyrell, 2004. "Multiple but Asymmetric Bank Financing: The Case of Relationship Lending," Working Paper Series: Finance and Accounting 141, Department of Finance, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
  3. Enrica Detragiache & Paolo Garella & Luigi Guiso, 2000. "Multiple versus Single Banking Relationships: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1133-1161, 06.
  4. Degryse, H.A. & Ongena, S., 2003. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Discussion Paper 2003-123, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
  5. Elsas, Ralf, 2005. "Empirical determinants of relationship lending," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 32-57, January.
  6. Boot, Arnoud W. A., 2000. "Relationship Banking: What Do We Know?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 7-25, January.
  7. Yongmin Chen, 1997. "Paying Customers to Switch," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 877-897, December.
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Cited by:
  1. Diana Bonfim & Qinglei Dai, 2012. "Bank size and lending specialization," Working Papers w201219, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
  2. Alessio D'Ignazio & Carlo Menon, 2013. "The causal effect of credit guarantees for SMEs: evidence from Italy," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 900, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
  3. Andrea Bellucci & Alexander V. Borisov & Alberto Zazzaro, 2013. "Do Banks Price Discriminate Spatially? Evidence from Small Business Lending in Local Credit Markets," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 79, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.

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