Does Financial Liberalization Relax Financing Constraints on Firms?

Laeven, Luc

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTING;    AGENCY PROBLEMS;    ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION;    AUTOREGRESSION;    BANKING SECTOR;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2467
RP-ID  :  WPS2467

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The author uses panel data on 394 firmsin 13 developing countries for the years 1988-98 to learnwhether financial liberalization relaxes financingconstraints on firms. He finds that liberalization affectssmall and large firms differently. Small firms arefinancially constrained before liberalization begins butbecome less so after liberalization. The financingconstraints on large firms, however, are low both before andafter liberalization. The initial difference between smalland large firms disappears over time. The authorhypothesizes that financial liberalization has little effecton the financing constraints of large firms because theyhave better access to preferential directed credit in theperiod before liberalization. Financial liberalization alsoreduces imperfections in financial markets, especially theasymmetric information costs of firms' financialleverage. Countries that liberalize their financial sectorstend to see dramatic improvements in political climate aswell. Successful financial liberalization seems to requireboth the political will and the ability to stop thepreferential treatment of well-connected, usually large, firms.