IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eecrev/v73y2015icp58-84.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Debt overhang in a business cycle model

Author

Listed:
  • Occhino, Filippo
  • Pescatori, Andrea

Abstract

We study the macroeconomic implications of the debt overhang distortion on firms׳ investment and labor decisions. We show that the distortion arises when the levels of investment and labor are non-contractible and chosen after the signing of the debt contract. The financial friction manifests itself as investment and labor wedges that move counter-cyclically, increasing during recessions when the risk of default is high. Their dynamics amplify and propagate the effects of shocks to productivity, government spending, volatility, and funding costs. Both the size and the persistence of these effects are quantitatively important.

Suggested Citation

  • Occhino, Filippo & Pescatori, Andrea, 2015. "Debt overhang in a business cycle model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 58-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:73:y:2015:i:c:p:58-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.11.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292114001482
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cúrdia, Vasco & Woodford, Michael, 2016. "Credit Frictions and Optimal Monetary Policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 30-65.
    2. Thomas Philippon & Philipp Schnabl, 2013. "Efficient Recapitalization," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(1), pages 1-42, February.
    3. Aruoba, S. Boragan & Fernandez-Villaverde, Jesus & Rubio-Ramirez, Juan F., 2006. "Comparing solution methods for dynamic equilibrium economies," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2477-2508, December.
    4. Bernanke, Ben S. & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1999. "The financial accelerator in a quantitative business cycle framework," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.),Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1341-1393, Elsevier.
    5. Occhino Filippo & Pescatori Andrea, 2014. "Leverage, investment, and optimal monetary policy," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, January.
    6. Patrick Bolton & Mathias Dewatripont, 2005. "Contract Theory," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262025760, September.
    7. Thomas Cooley & Ramon Marimon & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2004. "Aggregate Consequences of Limited Contract Enforceability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 817-847, August.
    8. Urban Jermann & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2012. "Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(1), pages 238-271, February.
    9. Alejandro Justiniano & Giorgio E. Primiceri, 2008. "The Time-Varying Volatility of Macroeconomic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 604-641, June.
    10. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Moore, John, 1997. "Credit Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(2), pages 211-248, April.
    11. Kenneth L. Judd, 1998. "Numerical Methods in Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262100711, September.
    12. Jeremy Bulow & Kenneth Rogoff, 1991. "Sovereign Debt Repurchases: No Cure for Overhang," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 106(4), pages 1219-1235.
    13. Merz, Monika, 1995. "Search in the labor market and the real business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 269-300, November.
    14. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 1996. "Foundations of International Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262150476, September.
    15. Cristina Arellano & Yan Bai & Patrick J. Kehoe, 2019. "Financial Frictions and Fluctuations in Volatility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2049-2103.
    16. Schwartzman, Felipe, 2014. "Time to produce and emerging market crises," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 37-52.
    17. Judd, Kenneth L. & Guu, Sy-Ming, 1997. "Asymptotic methods for aggregate growth models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 1025-1042, June.
    18. Lawrence J. Christiano & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2003. "The Great Depression and the Friedman-Schwartz hypothesis," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 1119-1215.
    19. Lamont, Owen, 1995. "Corporate-Debt Overhang and Macroeconomic Expectations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1106-1117, December.
    20. Xavier Freixas & Jean-Charles Rochet, 2008. "Microeconomics of Banking, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262062704, September.
    21. Alberto Ortiz Bolaños, 2013. "Credit Market Shocks, Monetary Policy, and Economic Fluctuations," Monetaria, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos, CEMLA, vol. 0(2), pages 317-369, July-Dece.
    22. Moyen, Nathalie, 2007. "How big is the debt overhang problem?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 433-472, February.
    23. Juan-Carlos Cordoba & Marla Ripoll, 2004. "Credit Cycles Redux," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1011-1046, November.
    24. Innes, Robert D., 1990. "Limited liability and incentive contracting with ex-ante action choices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-67, October.
    25. V. V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2007. "Business Cycle Accounting," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 75(3), pages 781-836, May.
    26. Christopher A. Hennessy, 2004. "Tobin's "Q", Debt Overhang, and Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1717-1742, August.
    27. Gertler, Mark & Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro, 2010. "Financial Intermediation and Credit Policy in Business Cycle Analysis," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.),Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 11, pages 547-599, Elsevier.
    28. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    29. Meh, Césaire A. & Moran, Kevin, 2010. "The role of bank capital in the propagation of shocks," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 555-576, March.
    30. Lawrence J. Christiano & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2014. "Risk Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 27-65, January.
    31. Carlstrom, Charles T & Fuerst, Timothy S, 1997. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 893-910, December.
    32. Krugman, Paul, 1988. "Financing vs. forgiving a debt overhang," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 253-268, November.
    33. Andrew Harvey & Esther Ruiz & Neil Shephard, 1994. "Multivariate Stochastic Variance Models," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 247-264.
    34. Hennessy, Christopher A. & Levy, Amnon & Whited, Toni M., 2007. "Testing Q theory with financing frictions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 691-717, March.
    35. Urban Jermann & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2012. "Erratum: Macroeconomic Effects of Financial Shocks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 1186-1186, April.
    36. Andolfatto, David, 1996. "Business Cycles and Labor-Market Search," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 112-132, March.
    37. Lawrence J. Christiano & Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno, 2003. "The Great Depression and the Friedman-Schwartz hypothesis," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 1119-1215.
    38. Gertler, Mark & Karadi, Peter, 2011. "A model of unconventional monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 17-34, January.
    39. Narayana R. Kocherlakota, 2000. "Creating business cycles through credit constraints," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Sum), pages 2-10.
    40. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Keiichiro Kobayashi & Tomoyuki Nakajima, 2014. "A macroeconomic model of liquidity crises," KIER Working Papers 876, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    2. Òscar Jordà & Martin Kornejew & Moritz Schularick & Alan M. Taylor, 2020. "Zombies at Large? Corporate Debt Overhang and the Macroeconomy," Staff Reports 951, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Halling, Michael & Yu, Jin & Zechner, Josef, 2016. "Leverage dynamics over the business cycle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(1), pages 21-41.
    4. Sweder J.G. van Wijnbergen & Egle Jakucionyte, 2017. "Debt Overhang, Exchange Rates and the Macroeconomics of Carry Trade," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-005/VI, Tinbergen Institute, revised 15 Jun 2018.
    5. Urban Jermann & Lukas Schmid & Joao Gomes, 2014. "Sticky Leverage," 2014 Meeting Papers 40, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Occhino Filippo & Pescatori Andrea, 2014. "Leverage, investment, and optimal monetary policy," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, January.
    7. Jakucionyte, Egle & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 2018. "Unclogging the Credit Channel: on the Macroeconomics of Banking frictions," CEPR Discussion Papers 12729, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Giordano, Claire & Marinucci, Marco & Silvestrini, Andrea, 2019. "The macro determinants of firms' and households' investment: Evidence from Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 118-133.
    9. Emilios Avgouleas, 2015. "Bank Leverage Ratios and Financial Stability: A Micro- and Macroprudential Perspective," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_849, Levy Economics Institute.
    10. Sebastian Di Tella & Robert E. Hall, 2020. "Risk Premium Shocks Can Create Inefficient Recessions," NBER Working Papers 26721, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Occhino, Filippo, 2017. "The 2012 eurozone crisis and the ECB’s OMT program: A debt-overhang banking and sovereign crisis interpretation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 337-363.
    12. Joachim Jungherr & Immo Schott, 2018. "The Long-term Debt Accelerator," 2018 Meeting Papers 961, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Jakucionyte, Egle & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 2017. "Debt Overhang and the Macroeconomics of Carry Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 11788, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. João Gomes & Urban Jermann & Lukas Schmid, 2016. "Sticky Leverage," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3800-3828, December.
    15. James Bullard & Jacek Suda & Aarti Singh & Costas Azariadis, 2014. "Debt Overhang and Monetary Policy," 2014 Meeting Papers 948, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Hiebert, Paul & Jaccard, Ivan & Schüler, Yves, 2018. "Contrasting financial and business cycles: Stylized facts and candidate explanations," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 72-80.
    17. Filippo Occhino, 2014. "Debt-Overhang Banking Crises," Working Papers (Old Series) 1425, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    18. Joseph Brian Cumbie & John Donnellan, 2017. "The Impact of Working Capital Components on Firm Value in US Firms," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(8), pages 138-150, August.
    19. Filippo Occhino, 2015. "The 2012 Eurozone Crisis and the ECB’s OMT Program: A Debt-Overhang Banking and Sovereign Crisis Interpretation The 2012 Eurozone Crisis and the ECB’s OMT Program: A Debt-Overhang Banking and Sovereig," Working Papers (Old Series) 1509, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    20. Occhino, Filippo, 2017. "Debt-overhang banking crises: Detecting and preventing systemic risk," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 192-208.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial frictions; Financial accelerator; Optimal financial contract; Investment wedge; Labor wedge;

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:73:y:2015:i:c:p:58-84. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Haili He). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eer .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.