Credit constraints and margins of import: first evidence for German manufacturing enterprises

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Authors

This study uses tailor-made enterprise-level data for 2008–2010 from various sources for firms from manufacturing industries to test for the link between credit constraints, measured by a credit rating score provided by a leading credit rating agency, and imports in Germany for the first time. We find empirical evidence that a better credit rating score is positively related to extensive margins of import – firms with a better score have a higher probability to import, they import more goods and they source from more countries of origin. The intensive margin of imports – the share of imports in total sales – is found not to be related to credit constraints.
Original languageEnglish
JournalApplied Economics
Volume47
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)415-430
Number of pages16
ISSN0003-6846
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26.01.2015

    Research areas

  • Economics
  • credit constraints, Germany, imports