Reference

Olivier Darmouni (Columbia Business School), Estimating the Effects of Informational Frictions on Credit Reallocation, Fédération des Banques Françaises Seminar, TSE, November 14, 2016, 12:30–14:00, room MF 323.

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel empirical approach to study the role of an informational friction limiting the reallocation of credit after a shock to banks. Because lenders use their private information about their borrowers when deciding which relationship to end, borrowers left looking for a new lender are adversely selected. To quantify the effects of this friction on aggregate lending, I develop an econometric model of relationships with three layers of information: (i) all lenders have some information about borrowers, but (ii) each lender has private information about its existing borrowers, and (iii) the econometrician observes neither. I show how to use bank shocks to identify this private information separately from information common to all lenders. I apply this approach to the U.S. corporate loan market during the crisis and find that the probability that a firm finds a new lender after a breakup would be 30% higher if there were no private information. At the aggregate level, $14 billion new loans were not made because of this friction. Moreover, interventions supporting weak lenders exacerbate adverse selection and this equilibrium effect reduces their effectiveness.

Research partnership

Fédération des Banques Françaises Research Initiative (sustainable)