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Multiple Lenders, Strategic Default, and Covenants

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Listed:
  • Andrea Attar
  • Catherine Casamatta
  • Arnold Chassagnon
  • Jean-Paul Décamps

Abstract

We study capital markets in which investors compete by designing financial contracts to control an entrepreneur's ability to side trade and default on multiple loans. We show that covenants may have anticompetitive effects: in particular, they prevent investors from providing additional funds and reduce the entrepreneur's investment capacity. As a result, a large number of inefficient allocations is supported at equilibrium. We propose a subsidy mechanism similar to guarantee funds in financial markets that efficiently controls the entrepreneur's side trading and sustains the competitive allocation as the unique equilibrium one.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Attar & Catherine Casamatta & Arnold Chassagnon & Jean-Paul Décamps, 2019. "Multiple Lenders, Strategic Default, and Covenants," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 98-130, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejmic:v:11:y:2019:i:2:p:98-130
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170189
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    Cited by:

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    3. Degryse, H.A. & Ioannidou, V. & von Schedvin, E.L., 2011. "On the Non-Exclusivity of Loan Contracts : An Empirical Investigation," Other publications TiSEM 0ac251a7-48f9-4714-92ba-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Claude Fluet & Paolo G. Garella, 2014. "Debt Rescheduling with Multiple Lenders: Relying on the Information of Others," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(324), pages 698-720, October.
    5. Chodorow-Reich, Gabriel & Darmouni, Olivier & Luck, Stephan & Plosser, Matthew, 2022. "Bank liquidity provision across the firm size distribution," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 908-932.
    6. Campello, Murillo & Connolly, Robert A. & Kankanhalli, Gaurav & Steiner, Eva, 2022. "Do real estate values boost corporate borrowing? Evidence from contract-level data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 611-644.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D86 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Economics of Contract Law
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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