Real Effects of the Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe: Evidence from Syndicated Loans
59 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2015 Last revised: 5 Feb 2018
There are 2 versions of this paper
Real Effects of the Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe: Evidence from Syndicated Loans
Real Effects of the Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe: Evidence from Syndicated Loans
Date Written: April 5, 2016
Abstract
We explore the impact of the credit crunch that followed the European debt crisis on the corporate policies of European firms. We show that banks' exposures to impaired sovereign debt and the risk-shifting behavior of undercapitalized banks contributed significantly to the severity of the crisis. In particular, we present firm-level evidence showing that the lending contraction of banks affected by the crisis depressed the investment, job creation, and sales growth of firms affliated with these banks. Our estimates suggest that the credit crunch explains between one-fifth and one-half of the overall negative real effects suffered by European borrowing firms.
JEL Classification: G01, G21, G28, E44
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation