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The COVID-19 insolvency gap: First-round effects of policy responses on SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Dörr, Julian Oliver
  • Murmann, Simona
  • Licht, Georg

Abstract

COVID-19 placed a special role to fiscal policy in rescuing companies short of liquidity from insolvency. In the first months of the crisis, SMEs as the backbone of Europe's real economy benefited from large and mainly indiscriminate aid measures. Avoiding business failures in a whatever it takes fashion contrasts, however, with the cleansing mechanism of economic crises: a mechanism which forces unviable firms out of the market, thereby reallocating resources efficiently. By focusing on firms' pre-crisis financial standing, we estimate the extent to which the policy response induced an insolvency gap and analyze whether the gap is characterized by firms which had already struggled before the pandemic. With the policy measures being focused on smaller firms, we also examine whether this insolvency gap differs with respect to firm size. Based on credit rating and insolvency data for the near universe of actively rated German firms, our results suggest that the policy reponse to COVID-19 has triggered a backlog of insolvencies in Germany that is particularly pronounced among financially weak, small firms, having potential long term implications on economic recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Dörr, Julian Oliver & Murmann, Simona & Licht, Georg, 2021. "The COVID-19 insolvency gap: First-round effects of policy responses on SMEs," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:21018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Diekhof, Josefine & Krieger, Bastian & Licht, Georg & Rammer, Christian & Schmitt, Johannes & Stenke, Gero, 2021. "The impact of the Covid-19 crisis on innovation: First in-sights from the German business sector," ZEW Expert Briefs 21-06, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19 policy response; Corporate bankruptcy; Cleansing e ect; SMEs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy

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