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No guarantees, no trade: How banks affect export patterns

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  • Niepmann, Friederike
  • Schmidt-Eisenlohr, Tim

Abstract

Employing new data on U.S. banks' trade-finance claims by country, this paper estimates the effect of letter-of-credit supply shocks on U.S. exports. We show that a one-standard deviation negative shock to a country's letter-of-credit supply reduces U.S. exports to that country by 1.5 percentage points. This effect is driven by countries that are small and where few banks are active. It more than doubles during the 2007-09 crisis. The provision of letters of credit is highly concentrated and banks are geographically specialized. Therefore, shocks to individual banks can have sizable effects in the aggregate and affect trade patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Niepmann, Friederike & Schmidt-Eisenlohr, Tim, 2017. "No guarantees, no trade: How banks affect export patterns," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 338-350.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:inecon:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:338-350
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2017.07.007
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade finance; Global banks; Letter of credit; Exports; Financial shocks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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