IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bofitp/bdp2002_011.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Too many to fail? Inter-enterprise arrears in transition economies

Author

Listed:
  • Hildebrandt, Antje

Abstract

In advanced market economies, the use of trade credits is an important way of short-term financing and generally considered as being part of normal business practice.Some transition economies, however, have experienced a rapid accumulation of trade credits which have led to interlocking webs of arrears and collective bailouts by the government.In this paper, firm-level data is used to test whether trade credits are just part of normal business practice comparable to more advanced market-economies or whether trade credits represent a systematic phenomena supporting soft budget constraints of firms in transition.The results suggest that trade credits are not just normal business practice but that they can have negative spill-over effects on other firms by worsening their financial situation.We conclude that the problem of interlocking effects is more pronounced in countries with less developed institutions, low financial intermediation and, overall, no credible commitment to market economic reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Hildebrandt, Antje, 2002. "Too many to fail? Inter-enterprise arrears in transition economies," BOFIT Discussion Papers 11/2002, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bofitp:bdp2002_011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/212509/1/bofit-dp2002-011.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Begg, David & Portes, Richard, 1993. "Enterprise debt and financial restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 396-407, April.
    2. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1997. "Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 661-691.
    3. Berglof, Erik & Roland, Gerard, 1998. "Soft Budget Constraints and Banking in Transition Economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 18-40, March.
    4. Robert G. King & Ross Levine, 1993. "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 717-737.
    5. Stanley Fischer & Ratna Sahay, 2000. "The Transition Economies After Ten Years," NBER Working Papers 7664, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Mr. Stanley Fischer & Ms. Ratna Sahay, 2000. "The Transition Economies After Ten Years," IMF Working Papers 2000/030, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Kornai, J, 1979. "Resource-Constrained versus Demand-Constrained Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(4), pages 801-819, July.
    8. Nilsen, Jeffrey H, 2002. "Trade Credit and the Bank Lending Channel," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(1), pages 226-253, February.
    9. Jain, Neelam, 2001. "Monitoring costs and trade credit," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 89-110.
    10. Luoana D. Santarossa, 2001. "Arrears as a Sign of Financial Repression in Transition Economies - The Case of Romania," CERT Discussion Papers 0104, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    11. Erik Berglof & Patrick Bolton, 2002. "The Great Divide and Beyond: Financial Architecture in Transition," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 77-100, Winter.
    12. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2001. "Firms as financial intermediaries - evidence from trade credit data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2696, The World Bank.
    13. Perotti, E. C., 1998. "Inertial credit and opportunistic arrears in transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 1703-1725, November.
    14. Roman Frydman & Cheryl Gray & Marek Hessel & Andrzej Rapaczynski, 2000. "The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(3), pages 577-601, November.
    15. Mr. Daniel Daianu, 1994. "Inter-Enterprise Arrears in a Post-Command Economy: Thoughts From a Romanian Perspective," IMF Working Papers 1994/054, International Monetary Fund.
    16. Eric V. Clifton & Mohsin S. Khan, 1993. "Interenterprise Arrears in Transforming Economies: The Case of Romania," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 40(3), pages 680-696, September.
    17. Frydman, R. & Gray, C. & Hessel, M. & Rapaczynski, A., 2000. "The Limits of Discipline: Ownership and Hard Budget Constraints in the Transition Economies," Working Papers 00-02, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    18. Mitchell, Janet, 1998. "Strategic Creditor Passivity, Regulation and Bank Bailouts," CEPR Discussion Papers 1780, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    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. Hildebrandt, Antje, 2002. "Too many to fail? : Inter-enterprise arrears in transition economies," BOFIT Discussion Papers 11/2002, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    2. repec:zbw:bofitp:2002_011 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Antje Hildebrandt, 2002. "Too many to fail? Inter-enterprise arrears in transition economies," Development and Comp Systems 0212001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Koen Schoors & Konstantin Sonin, 2005. "Passive Creditors," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 57-86, March.
    5. Jaleel Ahmed & Hui Xiaofeng & Muhammad Usman Virk & Muhammad Abdullah, 2015. "Investigation of causal relationship between trade credit and bank loan during 2008 financial crisis," Journal of Asian Business Strategy, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(5), pages 90-98, May.
    6. Kornai, János & Maskin, Eric & Roland, Gérard, 2022. "A puha költségvetési korlát - II [The soft budget constraint II]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 94-132.
    7. Hua Zhang & Yuanyang Song & Yuan Ding, 2015. "What Drives Managerial Perks? An Empirical Test of Competing Theoretical Perspectives," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 259-275, December.
    8. J. Kornai & E. Maskin & G. Roland, 2004. "Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 11.
    9. Simona Mateut, 2005. "Trade Credit and Monetary Policy Transmission," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 655-670, September.
    10. Rose Cunningham, 2004. "Trade Credit and Credit Rationing in Canadian Firms," Staff Working Papers 04-49, Bank of Canada.
    11. Maria Cristina Arcuri & Raoul Pisani, 2021. "Is Trade Credit a Sustainable Resource for Medium-Sized Italian Green Companies?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    12. Epstein, Brendan & Finkelstein Shapiro, Alan, 2019. "Financial development, unemployment volatility, and sectoral dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 82-102.
    13. Couppey-Soubeyran Jézabel & Héricourt Jérôme, 2013. "The Impact of Financial Development on the Relationship between Trade Credit, Bank Credit, and Firm Characteristics: A Study on Firm-Level Data from Six MENA Countries," Review of Middle East Economics and Finance, De Gruyter, vol. 9(2), pages 197-239, August.
    14. Santiago Carbó-Valverde & Francisco Rodríguez-Fernández & Gregory F. Udell, 2008. "Bank lending, financing constraints and SME investment," Working Paper Series WP-08-04, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    15. Allen, Franklin & Carletti, Elena & Qianc, Jun “QJ†& Valenzuela, Patricio, 2013. "Financial Intermediation, Markets, and Alternative Financial Sectors," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 759-798, Elsevier.
    16. Simona Mateut & Paul Mizen & Ydriss Ziane, 2011. "No Going Back: The Interactions Between Processed Inventories and Trade Credit," Discussion Papers 11/04, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    17. Luoana D. Santarossa, 2001. "Arrears as a Sign of Financial Repression in Transition Economies - The Case of Romania," CERT Discussion Papers 0104, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    18. Megginson, William L. & Ullah, Barkat & Wei, Zuobao, 2014. "State ownership, soft-budget constraints, and cash holdings: Evidence from China’s privatized firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 276-291.
    19. Cunningham, Rose, 2005. "Trade Credit and Credit Rationing in Canadian Firms," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2005036e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    20. Ding Yuan & Zhang Hua & Zhang Junxi, 2008. "The financial and operating performance of Chinese family-owned listed firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 297-318, May.
    21. El Ghoul, Sadok & Zheng, Xiaolan, 2016. "Trade credit provision and national culture," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 475-501.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    inter-enterprise arrears; soft budget constraints; transition economies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P31 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Socialist Enterprises and Their Transitions
    • P35 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Public Finance
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

    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:zbw:bofitp:bdp2002_011. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bofitfi.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.