Corporate Debt Structure and the Financial Crisis

52 Pages Posted: 18 Feb 2015

See all articles by Fiorella De Fiore

Fiorella De Fiore

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) - Monetary and Economic Department

Harald Uhlig

University of Chicago - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Date Written: January 7, 2015

Abstract

We present a DSGE model where firms optimally choose among alternative instruments of external finance. The model is used to explain the evolving composition of corporate debt during the financial crisis of 2008-09, namely the observed shift from bank finance to bond finance, at a time when the cost of market debt rose above the cost of bank loans. We show that the flexibility offered by banks on the terms of their loans and firms’ ability to substitute among alternative instruments of debt finance are important to shield the economy from adverse real effects of a financial crisis.

Keywords: corporate debt, financial crisis, risk shocks, firms heterogeneity

JEL Classification: E32, E44, C68, G23

Suggested Citation

De Fiore, Fiorella and Uhlig, Harald, Corporate Debt Structure and the Financial Crisis (January 7, 2015). ECB Working Paper No. 1759, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2546358 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2546358

Fiorella De Fiore (Contact Author)

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) - Monetary and Economic Department ( email )

Centralbahnplatz 2
CH-4002 Basel
Switzerland

Harald Uhlig

University of Chicago - Department of Economics ( email )

1101 East 58th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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