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Trade credit defaults and liquidity provision by firms

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Author Info
Frederic Boissay () (Directorate General Research, European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.)
Reint Gropp () (Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Senckenberganlage 31, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.)

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Abstract

Using a unique data set on trade credit defaults among French firms, we investigate whether and how trade credit is used to relax financial constraints. We show that firms that face idiosyncratic liquidity shocks are more likely to default on trade credit, especially when the shocks are unexpected, firms have little liquidity, are likely to be credit constrained or are close to their debt capacity. We estimate that credit constrained firms pass more than one fourth of the liquidity shocks they face on to their suppliers down the trade credit chain. The evidence is consistent with the idea that firms provide liquidity insurance to each other and that this mechanism is able to alleviate the consequences of credit constraints. In addition, we show that the chain of defaults stops when it reaches firms that are large, liquid, and have access to financial markets. This suggests that liquidity is allocated from large firms with access to outside finance to small, credit constrained firms through trade credit chains. JEL Classification: G30, D92, G20.

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Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number 753.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: May 2007
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Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20070753

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Related research
Keywords: Inter-firm liquidity provision; trade credit; credit constraints; credit chains.;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Lee, Yul W. & Stowe, John D., 1993. "Product Risk, Asymmetric Information, and Trade Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(02), pages 285-300, June. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Ferris, J Stephen, 1981. "A Transactions Theory of Trade Credit Use," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 96(2), pages 243-70, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1996. "Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 5602, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & John Moore, 2002. "Balance-Sheet Contagion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 46-50, May. [Downloadable!]
  7. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1995. "The Effect of Credit Market Competition on Lending Relationships," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(2), pages 407-43, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & John Moore, 2004. "Credit Chains," ESE Discussion Papers 118, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
  9. Barbara Summers & Nicholas Wilson, 2003. "Trade credit and customer relationships," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6-7), pages 439-455. [Downloadable!]
  10. Nadiri, M Ishaq, 1969. "The Determinants of Trade Credit in the U.S. Total Manufacturing Sector," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 408-23, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Bardos, Mireille, 1998. "Detecting the risk of company failure at the Banque de France," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(10-11), pages 1405-1419, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Benjamin S. Wilner, 2000. "The Exploitation of Relationships in Financial Distress: The Case of Trade Credit," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 153-178, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Stanley D. Longhofer & Joao A.C. Santos, 2003. "The Paradox of Priority," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 32(1), Spring.
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  19. Burkart, Mike & Ellingsen, Tore & Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2004. "What You Sell is What You Lend? Explaining Trade Credit Contracts," CEPR Discussion Papers 4823, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Burkart, Mike & Ellingsen, Tore, 2002. "In-Kind Finance," CEPR Discussion Papers 3536, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Santiago Carbó Valverde & Francisco Rodríguez-Fernández & Gregory F. Udell, 2008. "Bank lending, financing constraints and SME investment," Working Paper Series WP-08-04, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. [Downloadable!]
  2. Neus Herranz & Stefan Krasa & Anne Villamil, 2009. "Small firms in the SSBF," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 341-359, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Fabbri, Daniela & Klapper, Leora, 2008. "Market power and the matching of trade credit terms," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4754, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  4. Silvia Giannangeli & Giorgio Fagiolo & Massimo Molinari, 2008. "Financial Structure and Corporate Growth: Evidence from Italian Panel Data," LEM Papers Series 2008/17, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  5. Philipp Engler & Michael Fidora & Christian Thimann, 2007. "External imbalances and the US current account - how supply-side changes affect an exchange rate adjustment," Working Paper Series 761, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Giovanni Lombardo & David Vestin, 2007. "Welfare implications of Calvo vs. Rotemberg pricing assumptions," Working Paper Series 770, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  7. de la Torre, Augusto & Soledad Martinez Peria, Maria & Schmukler , Sergio L., 2008. "Bank involvement with SMEs : beyond relationship lending," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4649, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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