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Determinants of global loan pricing: Creditor rights or country size?

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  • Delis, Manthos D.
  • Iosifidi, Maria

Abstract

Using global data on syndicated loans, we show that any negative effect of stronger creditor rights on loan spreads, as identified in the prior literature (Qian and Strahan, 2007; Bae and Goyal, 2009), disappears once we include a single country characteristic: country size. This finding is robust to several identification methods, both global samples and within-country changes in creditor rights, different panel spans, and hundreds of control variables. We identify that key origins of the effect of country size on loan pricing are ethnic fractionalization and within-country heterogeneity in economic preferences, which create country risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Delis, Manthos D. & Iosifidi, Maria, 2025. "Determinants of global loan pricing: Creditor rights or country size?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finsta:v:78:y:2025:i:c:s1572308925000257
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jfs.2025.101396
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    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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