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Trade Credit Contracts

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  • Leora F. Klapper
  • Luc Laeven
  • Raghuram Rajan

Abstract

We employ a novel dataset on almost 30,000 trade credit contracts to describe the broad characteristics of the parties that contract together and the key contractual terms of these contracts. Whereas prior work has typically used information on only one side of the buyer-seller transaction, this paper utilizes information on both, allowing for the first analysis of buyer-seller pairs. An equally important distinction is that we have multiple contracts for the same buyer or supplier firms, rather than a firm-average response, allowing for the correction of time-invariant firm characteristics that might determine the choice of credit terms. We find that the largest and most creditworthy buyers receive contracts with the longest maturities from smaller suppliers, and that discounts for early payment tend to be offered to riskier buyers. (JEL G32)

Suggested Citation

  • Leora F. Klapper & Luc Laeven & Raghuram Rajan, 2011. "Trade Credit Contracts," NBER Working Papers 17146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:17146
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • 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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