Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/299274 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
Sveriges Riksbank Working Paper Series No. 422
Publisher: 
Sveriges Riksbank, Stockholm
Abstract: 
We use a comprehensive Swedish credit register to document that firms throughout the size distribution have access to fairly large and reasonably priced credit lines, but borrow relatively little from them. We rationalize this using a theoretical framework in which the expected cost of financial distress increases with current borrowing and lower credit-line utilization reflects tighter 'dynamic' credit constraints. Consistently with the predictions of the model, the data shows that there is a negative relation between firm-level uncertainty and credit-line utilization. We also find that firms increase borrowing in response to credit-limit increases, even when their current debt is far from the limit.
Subjects: 
Credit constraints
banks
uncertainty
credit lines
precautionary behavior
JEL: 
D22
E44
G21
G32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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