American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
In-Kind Finance: A Theory of Trade Credit
American Economic Review
vol. 94,
no. 3, June 2004
(pp. 569–590)
Abstract
It is typically less profitable for an opportunistic borrower to divert inputs than to divert cash. Therefore, suppliers may lend more liberally than banks. This simple argument is at the core of our contract theoretic model of trade credit in competitive markets. The model implies that trade credit and bank credit can be either complements or substitutes. Among other things, the model explains why trade credit has short maturity, why trade credit is more prevalent in less developed credit markets, and why accounts payable of large unrated firms are more countercyclical than those of small firms.Citation
Burkart, Mike, and Tore Ellingsen. 2004. "In-Kind Finance: A Theory of Trade Credit." American Economic Review, 94 (3): 569–590. DOI: 10.1257/0002828041464579JEL Classification
- G32 Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill