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Too many to fail? Inter-enterprise arrears in transition economies

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Author Info
Antje Hildebrandt (Humboldt University)
Abstract

In advanced market economies, the use of trade credits is an important way of short-term financing and generally considered as being part of normal business practice. Some transition economies, however, have experienced a rapid accumulation of trade credits which have led to interlocking webs of arrears and collective bailouts by the government. In this paper, firm-level data is used to test whether trade credits are just part of normal business practice comparable to more advanced market-economies or whether trade credits represent a systematic phenomena supporting soft budget constraints of firms in transition. The results suggest that trade credits are not just normal business practice but that they can have negative spill-over effects on other firms by worsening their financial situation. We conclude that the problem of interlocking effects is more pronounced in countries with less developed institutions, low financial intermediation and, overall, no credible commitment to market economic reforms.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0212001.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: 13 Dec 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0212001

Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on IBM PC; pages: 35; figures: included
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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Related research
Keywords: inter-enterprise arrears; soft budget constraints; transition economies;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
P31 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions
P35 - Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Public Finance
L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

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  1. Wendy Carlin & Steven Fries & Mark Schaffer & Paul Seabright, 2000. "Barter and Non-Monetary Transactions in Transition Economies: Evidence from a Cross-Country Survey," CERT Discussion Papers 0004, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University. [Downloadable!]
  2. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2001. "Firms as financial intermediaries - evidence from trade credit data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2696, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  3. Perotti, E. C., 1998. "Inertial credit and opportunistic arrears in transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1703-1725, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  6. Ickes, B.W. & Ryterman, R., 1993. "Roadblock to Economic Reform: Inter-Enterprise Debt and the Transition to Markets," Papers 2-93-1, Pennsylvania State - Department of Economics.
  7. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1996. "Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 5602, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Roman Frydman & Cheryl Gray & Marek Hessel & Andrzej Rapaczynski, 2000. "The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(3), pages 577-601, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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    Other versions:
  13. Begg, David & Portes, Richard, 1993. "Enterprise debt and financial restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 396-407, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Jaffee, Dwight & Stiglitz, Joseph, 1990. "Credit rationing," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 16, pages 837-888 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Frydman, R. & Gray, C. & Hessel, M. & Rapaczynski, A., 2000. "The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies," Working Papers 00-02, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
  16. Kornai, J, 1979. "Resource-Constrained versus Demand-Constrained Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 801-19, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Luoana D. Santarossa, 2001. "Arrears as a Sign of Financial Repression in Transition Economies - The Case of Romania," CERT Discussion Papers 0104, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University. [Downloadable!]
  19. King, Robert G & Levine, Ross, 1993. "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 108(3), pages 717-37, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. de Melo, Martha & Denizer, Cevdet & Gelb, Alan & Tenev, Stoyan, 1997. "Circumstance and choice : the role of initial conditions and policies in transition economies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1866, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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