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Agency Costs, Collateral, and Business Fluctuations

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Author Info
Ben S. Bernanke
Mark Gertler

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Abstract

Bad economic times are typically associated with a high incidence of financial distress, e.g., insolvency and bankruptcy. This paper studies the role of changes in borrower solvency in the initiation and propagation of the business cycle. We first develop a model of the process of financing real investment projects under asymmetric information, extending work by Robert Townsend. A major conclusion here is that when the entrepreneurs who borrow to finance projects are more solvent (have more "collateral"), the deadweight agency costs of investment finance are lower. This model of investment finance is then embedded in a dynamic macroeconomic setting. We show that, first, since reductions in collateral in bad times increase the agency costs of borrowing, which in turn depress the demand for investment, the presence of these financial factors will tend to amplify swings in real output. Second, we find that autonomous factors which affect the collateral of borrowers (as in a "debt-deflation") can actually initiate cycles in output.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 2015.

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Date of creation: Aug 1986
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:2015

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Williamson, Stephen D, 1987. "Financial Intermediation, Business Failures, and Real Business Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(6), pages 1196-1216, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Long, John B, Jr & Plosser, Charles I, 1983. "Real Business Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(1), pages 39-69, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Robert Townsend, 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Staff Report 45, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Hamilton, James D., 1987. "Monetary factors in the great depression," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 145-169, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1982. "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1345-70, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Gale, Douglas & Hellwig, Martin, 1985. "Incentive-Compatible Debt Contracts: The One-Period Problem," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 647-63, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Diamond, Douglas W, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. King, Robert G & Plosser, Charles I, 1984. "Money, Credit, and Prices in a Real Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 363-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Greenwald, Bruce & Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1984. "Informational Imperfections in the Capital Market and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 194-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Sappington, David, 1983. "Limited liability contracts between principal and agent," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-21, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Bengt Holmstrom, 1979. "Moral Hazard and Observability," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 74-91, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Aaron Tornell, 2003. "Soft Landings (February 2000), with Martin Schneider," UCLA Economics Online Papers 241, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jan Willem van den End & Mostafa Tabbae, 2005. "Measuring Financial Stability: Applying the MfRisk Model to the Netherlands," DNB Working Papers 030, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  3. Veronika Dolar & Césaire Meh, 2002. "Financial Structure and Economic Growth: A Non-Technical Survey," Working Papers 02-24, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  4. Ferri, Giovanni & Tae Soo Kang & In-June Kim, 2001. "The value of relationship banking during financial crises : evidence from the Republic of Korea," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2553, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Eugene White & Frederic Mishkin, 2002. "U.S.Stock Market Crashes and Their Aftermath: Implications for Monetary Policy," Departmental Working Papers 200208, Rutgers University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Eickmeier, Sandra & Hofmann, Boris & Worms, Andreas, 2006. "Macroeconomic fluctuations and bank lending: evidence for Germany and the euro area," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2006,34, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  7. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1991. "Targets and Instruments of Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 2668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 1998. "Bubbles and Crises The Economic Journal," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 98-01, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
  9. Simon Hall & Anne Vila Wetherilt, . "The role of corporate balance sheets and bank lending policies in a financial accelerator framework," Bank of England working papers 166, Bank of England. [Downloadable!]
  10. Frederic S. Mishkin, 1997. "The causes and propagation of financial instability : lessons for policy makers," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 55-96. [Downloadable!]
  11. Mishkin, Frederic S., 2001. "Financial policies and the prevention of financial crises in emerging market economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2683, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Tiff Macklem & Alain Paquet & Louis Phaneuf, 1996. "Asymmetric Effects of Monetary Policy: Evidence from the Yield Curve," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 42, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal. [Downloadable!]
  13. René Garcia & Huntley Schaller, 1999. "Are the Effects of Monetary Policy Asymmetric?," Carleton Economic Papers 99-17, Carleton University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Uhlig, H., 1995. "Transition and Financial Collapse," Discussion Paper 66, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Charles Goodhart & Boris Hofmann, 2005. "The IS curve and the transmission of monetary policy: is there a puzzle?," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 29-36, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Charles T. Carlstrom & Katherine A. Samolyk, 1993. "Loan sales as a response to market-based capital constraints," Working Paper 9313, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
  17. Aaron Tornell, . "Concentrated Ownership and Bailout Guarantees (November 2005)," UCLA Economics Online Papers 407, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  18. Céline Gauthier & Christopher Graham & Ying Liu, 2004. "Financial Conditions Indexes for Canada," Working Papers 04-22, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  19. Franklin Allen & Richard Herring, 2001. "Banking Regulation versus Securities Market Regulation," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-29, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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