IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbfina/v32y2008i7p1234-1241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Opacity of young businesses: Evidence from rating disagreements

Author

Listed:
  • Hyytinen, Ari
  • Pajarinen, Mika

Abstract

A conventional wisdom in the contemporary corporate finance literature argues that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are informationally opaque. We use data from two credit information companies and in particular their disagreements over the creditworthiness of SMEs to study the empirical relevance of this often invoked assumption. Our panel data analysis shows that once unobserved firm-effects are controlled for, the disagreements (i.e., rating splits) are inversely related to the age of firms. We are not able to document such a robust relationship between the disagreements and the size of firms. This finding holds a lesson for empirical corporate finance researchers who need firm-level proxies for informational imperfections and asymmetries: of the two often-used proxies, firm size is not as closely related to informational opacity as firm age is.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyytinen, Ari & Pajarinen, Mika, 2008. "Opacity of young businesses: Evidence from rating disagreements," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1234-1241, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbfina:v:32:y:2008:i:7:p:1234-1241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378-4266(07)00321-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    2. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October.
    3. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    4. Berger, Allen N. & Udell, Gregory F., 2006. "A more complete conceptual framework for SME finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2945-2966, November.
    5. Luís M B Cabral & José Mata, 2003. "On the Evolution of the Firm Size Distribution: Facts and Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(4), pages 1075-1090, September.
    6. Kallberg, Jarl G. & Udell, Gregory F., 2003. "The value of private sector business credit information sharing: The US case," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 449-469, March.
    7. Bonaccorsi di Patti, Emilia & Dell'Ariccia, Giovanni, 2004. "Bank Competition and Firm Creation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(2), pages 225-251, April.
    8. Broecker, Thorsten, 1990. "Credit-Worthiness Tests and Interbank Competition," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(2), pages 429-452, March.
    9. Bomberger, William A, 1996. "Disagreement as a Measure of Uncertainty," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(3), pages 381-392, August.
    10. Thierry Magnac, 2004. "Panel Binary Variables and Sufficiency: Generalizing Conditional Logit," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(6), pages 1859-1876, November.
    11. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    12. Gary Chamberlain, 1980. "Analysis of Covariance with Qualitative Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(1), pages 225-238.
    13. Ken Cavalluzzo & Linda Cavalluzzo & John D. Wolken, 1999. "Competition, small business financing, and discrimination: evidence from a new survey," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1999-25, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Robert Hauswald & Robert Marquez, 2003. "Information Technology and Financial Services Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 921-948, July.
    15. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    16. David G. Blanchflower & Phillip B. Levine & David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Discrimination in the Small-Business Credit Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 930-943, November.
    17. Ken S. Cavalluzzo, 2002. "Competition, Small Business Financing, and Discrimination: Evidence from a New Survey," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 641-680, October.
    18. Bonaccorsi di Patti, Emilia & Dell'Ariccia, Giovanni, 2004. "Bank Competition and Firm Creation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(2), pages 225-251, April.
    19. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2931-2943, November.
    20. Diamond, Douglas W, 1989. "Reputation Acquisition in Debt Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 828-862, August.
    21. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    22. Giuliano Iannotta, 2006. "Testing for Opaqueness in the European Banking Industry: Evidence from Bond Credit Ratings," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 30(3), pages 287-309, December.
    23. Cantor, Richard & Packer, Frank, 1997. "Differences of opinion and selection bias in the credit rating industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1395-1417, October.
    24. Donald P. Morgan, 2002. "Rating Banks: Risk and Uncertainty in an Opaque Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 874-888, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hyytinen, Ari & Pajarinen, Mika, 2004. "Opacity of Young Firms: Faith or Fact?," Discussion Papers 923, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    2. Hyytinen, Ari & Väänänen, Lotta, 2004. "Could Mr. and Mrs. Capital Market Imperfection Please Step Forward? An Empirical Analysis of Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard in Capital Markets," Discussion Papers 887, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    3. Muravyev, Alexander & Talavera, Oleksandr & Schäfer, Dorothea, 2009. "Entrepreneurs' gender and financial constraints: Evidence from international data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 270-286, June.
    4. William James Adams & Ben R. Craig & James B. Thompson, 2006. "Does Small Business Administration guaranteed lending improve economic performance in lowincome areas?," Proceedings: Community Affairs Dept. Conferences, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Jul, pages 55-85.
    5. Victor Motta, 2017. "Are SMEs in the hospitality industry less likely to experience credit constraint than other industries in the service sector? Evidence from Latin America," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(7), pages 1398-1418, November.
    6. Massimo Colombo & Luca Grilli, 2007. "Funding Gaps? Access To Bank Loans By High-Tech Start-Ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 25-46, June.
    7. Djedidi-Kooli, Salima, 2009. "L’accès au financement des PME en France : quel rôle joué par la structure du système bancaire ?," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8354 edited by Etner, François.
    8. Kallandranis, Christos & Anastasiou, Dimitrios & Drakos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Credit rationing prevalence for Eurozone firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    9. Duranton,Gilles & Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Grover,Arti Goswami & Kerr,William Robert & Duranton,Gilles & Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Goswami,Arti Grover & Kerr,William Robert, 2015. "Effects of land misallocation on capital allocations in India," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7451, The World Bank.
    10. Dimelis, Sophia & Giotopoulos, Ioannis & Louri, Helen, 2015. "Can firms grow without credit?: evidence from the Euro Area, 2005-2011: a quantile panel analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 61157, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Cristina Guillamón & Enrique Moral-Benito & Sergio Puente, 2017. "High growth firms in employment and productivity: dynamic interactions and the role of financial constraints?," Working Papers 1718, Banco de España.
    12. Olena Havrylchyk, 2010. "Foreign Bank Presence and its Effect on Firm Entry and Exit in Transition Economies," Working Papers 2010-10, CEPII research center.
    13. repec:diw:diwfin:diwfin05020 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Belinda L. Del Gaudio & Gabriele Sampagnaro & Claudio Porzio & Vincenzo Verdoliva, 2022. "The signaling role of trade credit in bank lending decisions: Evidence from small and medium‐sized enterprises," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1-2), pages 327-354, January.
    15. Chaoying Lin & Lerong He & Guangqing Yang, 2021. "Targeted monetary policy and financing constraints of Chinese small businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 2107-2124, December.
    16. Ms. Deniz O Igan & Ali Mirzaei & Tomoe Moore, 2018. "How Do Regulations of Entry and Credit Access Relate to Industry Competition? International Evidence," IMF Working Papers 2018/084, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Kerr, Sari Pekkala & Kerr, William R. & Nanda, Ramana, 2022. "House prices, home equity and entrepreneurship: Evidence from U.S. census micro data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 103-119.
    18. Ferrando, Annalisa & Martinez-Carrascal, Carmen & Coluzzi, Chiara, 2009. "Financing obstacles and growth: an analysis for euro area non-financial corporations," Working Paper Series 997, European Central Bank.
    19. de la Torre, Augusto & Martínez Pería, María Soledad & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2010. "Bank involvement with SMEs: Beyond relationship lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2280-2293, September.
    20. repec:zbw:bofitp:2011_011 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Backman, Mikaela, 2013. "Banks and New Firm Formation," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 301, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    22. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & Mustafa Disli & Koen Schoors, 2013. "Bank Competition and Outreach: Evidence from Turkey," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(S5), pages 7-30, November.

    More about this item

    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:eee:jbfina:v:32:y:2008:i:7:p:1234-1241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbf .

    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.