IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/27877.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Estimating SME Failures in Real Time: An Application to the COVID-19 Crisis

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
  • Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan
  • Veronika Penciakova
  • Nick Sander

Abstract

We develop a flexible framework for tracking business failures during economic downturns. Our framework combines firm-level data with a model of cost-minimization where firms react to a rich set of shocks and fail if illiquid. After verifying that our methodology approximates past official failure rates, we apply it to the COVID-19 crisis in 11 countries. Absent government support, SME failures would have increased by 6.15 percentage points, representing 3.15 percent of employment. We find little threat to financial stability. Commonly implemented COVID-19 policies saved firms but were costly because funds were directed to firms that could survive without support.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Veronika Penciakova & Nick Sander, 2020. "Estimating SME Failures in Real Time: An Application to the COVID-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27877
    Note: EFG IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27877.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dirk Kruger & Harald Uhlig & Taojun Xie, 2020. "Macroeconomic Dynamics and Reallocation in an Epidemic," Working Papers 2020-43, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    2. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Neiman, Brent, 2020. "How many jobs can be done at home?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    3. Elena Carletti & Tommaso Oliviero & Marco Pagano & Loriana Pelizzon & Marti G Subrahmanyam, 2020. "The COVID-19 Shock and Equity Shortfall: Firm-Level Evidence from Italy," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 534-568.
    4. Vadim Elenev & Tim Landvoigt & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2020. "Can the Covid Bailouts Save the Economy?," NBER Working Papers 27207, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Michael Woodford, 2022. "Effective Demand Failures and the Limits of Monetary Stabilization Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(5), pages 1475-1521, May.
    6. Mattia Guerini & Lionel Nesta & Xavier Ragot & Stefano Schiavo, 2020. "Firm liquidity and solvency under the Covid-19 lockdown in France," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03059232, HAL.
    7. Daniel L. Greenwald & John Krainer & Pascal Paul, 2020. "The Credit Line Channel," Working Paper Series 2020-26, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    8. Viral V Acharya & Sascha Steffen, 0. "The Risk of Being a Fallen Angel and the Corporate Dash for Cash in the Midst of COVID," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 430-471.
    9. Coibion, Olivier & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & Weber, Michael, 2020. "Labor Markets During the Covid-19 Crisis: A Preliminary View," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt7rx7t91p, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    10. Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2020. "COVID-19 Is Also a Reallocation Shock," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 51(2 (Summer), pages 329-383.
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/a8bbt5m569depe1larqkd498n is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Jean-Noël Barrot & Basile Grassi & Julien Sauvagnat, 2021. "Sectoral Effects of Social Distancing," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 277-281, May.
    13. Granja, João & Makridis, Christos & Yannelis, Constantine & Zwick, Eric, 2022. "Did the paycheck protection program hit the target?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 725-761.
    14. Amit Gandhi & Salvador Navarro & David Rivers, 2011. "On the Identification of Production Functions: How Heterogeneous is Productivity?," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20119, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    15. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    16. Veronica Guerrieri & Guido Lorenzoni & Ludwig Straub & Iván Werning, 2022. "Macroeconomic Implications of COVID-19: Can Negative Supply Shocks Cause Demand Shortages?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(5), pages 1437-1474, May.
    17. Viral V Acharya & Sascha Steffen, 2020. "The Risk of Being a Fallen Angel and the Corporate Dash for Cash in the Midst of COVID," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 430-471.
    18. David Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2020. "Nonlinear Production Networks with an Application to the Covid-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    20. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Bent Sorensen & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez & Vadym Volosovych & Sevcan Yesiltas, 2015. "How to Construct Nationally Representative Firm Level Data from the Orbis Global Database: New Facts and Aggregate Implications," NBER Working Papers 21558, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Jaravel, Xavier & O'Connell, Martin, 2020. "Inflation Spike and Falling Product Variety during the Great Lockdown," CEPR Discussion Papers 14880, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    22. Natalie Bachas & Peter Ganong & Pascal J. Noel & Joseph S. Vavra & Arlene Wong & Diana Farrell & Fiona E. Greig, 2020. "Initial Impacts of the Pandemic on Consumer Behavior: Evidence from Linked Income, Spending, and Savings Data," NBER Working Papers 27617, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Simon Mongey & Laura Pilossoph & Alexander Weinberg, 2021. "Which workers bear the burden of social distancing?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(3), pages 509-526, September.
    24. Olivier Blanchard & Thomas Philippon & Jean Pisani-Ferry, 2020. "A new policy toolkit is needed as countries exit COVID-19 lockdowns," Policy Contributions 37232, Bruegel.
    25. Elena Carletti & Tommaso Oliviero & Marco Pagano & Loriana Pelizzon & Marti G Subrahmanyam, 0. "The COVID-19 Shock and Equity Shortfall: Firm-Level Evidence from Italy," Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(3), pages 534-568.
    26. Goolsbee, Austan & Syverson, Chad, 2021. "Fear, lockdown, and diversion: Comparing drivers of pandemic economic decline 2020," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    27. Cem Cakmakli & Selva Demiralp & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Sevcan Yesiltas & Muhammed A. Yildirim, 2020. "COVID-19 and Emerging Markets: An Epidemiological Model with International Production Networks and Capital Flows," IMF Working Papers 2020/133, International Monetary Fund.
    28. Sørensen, Bent E & Kalemli-Özcan, Sebnem & Volosovych, Vadym & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina & Yesiltas, Sevcan, 2015. "How to construct nationally representative firm level data from the ORBIS global database," CEPR Discussion Papers 10829, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    29. Robin Greenwood & Benjamin Iverson & David Thesmar, 2020. "Sizing up Corporate Restructuring in the COVID Crisis," NBER Working Papers 28104, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2009. "On estimating firm-level production functions using proxy variables to control for unobservables," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 112-114, September.
    31. Camille Landais & Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2020. "A progressive European wealth tax to fund the European COVID response," Vox eBook Chapters, in: AgneÌ€s BeÌ nassy-QueÌ reÌ & Beatrice Weder di Mauro (ed.), Europe in the Time of Covid-19, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 113-118, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    32. Alberto Cavallo, 2020. "Inflation with Covid Consumption Baskets," NBER Working Papers 27352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Groenewegen, Jesse & Hardeman, Sjoerd & Stam, Erik, 2021. "Does COVID-19 state aid reach the right firms? COVID-19 state aid, turnover expectations, uncertainty and management practices," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    2. Álvarez, Laura & García-Posada, Miguel & Mayordomo, Sergio, 2023. "Distressed firms, zombie firms and zombie lending: A taxonomy," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    3. Thomas Philippon, 2020. "Efficient Programs to Support Businesses During and After Lockdowns," NBER Working Papers 28211, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Vujanović, Nina & Stojčić, Nebojša & Hashi, Iraj, 2021. "FDI spillovers and firm productivity during crisis: Empirical evidence from transition economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    5. Tan, Brandon & Igan, Deniz & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad & Pierri, Nicola & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2021. "Government intervention and bank markups: Lessons from the global financial crisis for the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Nopriadi Saputra, 2021. "Double-Sided Perspective of Business Resilience: Leading SME Rationally and Irrationally During COVID-19," GATR Journals jmmr275, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    7. repec:ctc:sdimse:dime21_01 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Galina Hale & John Leer & Fernanda Nechio, 2022. "Inflationary Effects of Fiscal Support to Households and Firms," Working Paper Series 2023-02, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    9. Caselli, Mauro & Fracasso, Andrea & Traverso, Silvio, 2021. "Robots and risk of COVID-19 workplace contagion: Evidence from Italy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    10. Ines Ghazouani & Nadia Basty, 2023. "Is the relationship between bank stability, competition, and intervention quality nonlinear? Evidence from North African countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 35(1), pages 38-51, March.
    11. Galina Hale & John C. Leer & Fernanda Nechio, 2023. "Inflationary Effects of Fiscal Support to Households and Firms," NBER Working Papers 30906, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Jose M. Berrospide & Arun Gupta & Matthew P. Seay, 2021. "Un-used Bank Capital Buffers and Credit Supply Shocks at SMEs during the Pandemic," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-043, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    13. Elías Albagli & Andrés Fernández & Juan Guerra-Salas & Federico Huneeus & Pablo Muñoz, 2023. "Anatomy of Firms’ Margins of Adjustment: Evidence from the COVID Pandemic," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 981, Central Bank of Chile.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Veronika Penciakova & Nick Sander, 2020. "COVID-19 and SME Failures," IMF Working Papers 2020/207, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Veronika Penciakova & Nick Sander, 2021. "Fiscal Policy in the Age of COVID: Does it ‘Get in all of the Cracks?’," NBER Working Papers 29293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Veronika Penciakova & Nicholas Sander, 2022. "Fiscal Policy in the Age of COVID-19: Does It “Get in All of the Cracks”?," Staff Working Papers 22-45, Bank of Canada.
    4. Greg Kaplan & Benjamin Moll & Giovanni L. Violante, 2020. "The Great Lockdown and the Big Stimulus: Tracing the Pandemic Possibility Frontier for the U.S," NBER Working Papers 27794, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier & Kalemli-Özcan, Sebnem & Penciakova, Veronika & Sander, Nick, 2022. "Estimating SME Failures in Real Time: An Application to the COVID-19 Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 15323, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Muhammed A. Yildirim & Cem Cakmakli & Selva Demiralp & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Sevcan Yesiltas, 2021. "The Economic Case for Global Vaccinations: An Epidemiological Model with International Production Networks," CID Working Papers 390, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Zheng, Huanhuan, 2023. "Sovereign debt responses to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Balduzzi, Pierluigi & Brancati, Emanuele & Brianti, Marco & Schiantarelli, Fabio, 2020. "The Economic Effects of COVID-19 and Credit Constraints: Evidence from Italian Firms' Expectations and Plans," IZA Discussion Papers 13629, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Kong, Edward & Prinz, Daniel, 2020. "Disentangling policy effects using proxy data: Which shutdown policies affected unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    10. repec:ctc:sdimse:dime21_01 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. David Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2020. "Nonlinear Production Networks with an Application to the Covid-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lazebnik, Teddy & Shami, Labib & Bunimovich-Mendrazitsky, Svetlana, 2023. "Intervention policy influence on the effect of epidemiological crisis on industry-level production through input–output networks," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    13. Fons-Rosen, Christian & Kalemli-Ozcan, Sebnem & Sørensen, Bent E. & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina & Volosovych, Vadym, 2021. "Quantifying productivity gains from foreign investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. Hensvik, Lena & Le Barbanchon, Thomas & Rathelot, Roland, 2021. "Job search during the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    15. Sara L. McGaughey & Pascalis Raimondos & Lisbeth La Cour, 2018. "What is a Foreign Firm? Implications for Productivity Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 7109, CESifo.
    16. Cem Çakmaklı & Selva Demiralp & Ṣebnem Kalemli-Özcan & Sevcan Yesiltas & Muhammed A. Yildirim, 2020. "COVID-19 and Emerging Markets: A SIR Model, Demand Shocks and Capital Flows," NBER Working Papers 27191, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. David E. Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2022. "Modern Infectious Diseases: Macroeconomic Impacts and Policy Responses," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 85-131, March.
    18. Bonadio, Barthélémy & Huo, Zhen & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Pandalai-Nayar, Nitya, 2021. "Global supply chains in the pandemic," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. Giovanni Gallipoli & Christos A. Makridis, 2022. "Sectoral digital intensity and GDP growth after a large employment shock: A simple extrapolation exercise," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(S1), pages 446-479, February.
    20. Enrique G. Mendoza & Eugenio Rojas & Linda L. Tesar & Jing Zhang, 2023. "A Macroeconomic Model of Healthcare Saturation, Inequality and the Output–Pandemia Trade-off," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(1), pages 243-299, March.
    21. Tomaz Cajner & Leland D. Crane & Ryan A. Decker & John Grigsby & Adrian Hamins-Puertolas & Erik Hurst & Christopher Johann Kurz & Ahu Yildirmaz, 2020. "The U.S. Labor Market During the Beginning of the Pandemic Recession," Working Papers 2020-58_Revision, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D2 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations
    • E65 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Studies of Particular Policy Episodes
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:27877. 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: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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 bibliographic 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.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.