Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP6313
Authors: Martin Brown; Tullio Jappelli; Marco Pagano
Abstract: We investigate whether information sharing among banks has affected credit market performance in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, using a large sample of firm-level data. Our estimates show that information sharing is associated with improved availability and lower cost of credit to firms, and that this correlation is stronger for opaque firms than transparent firms. In cross-sectional estimates, we control for variation in country-level aggregate variables that may affect credit, by examining the differential impact of information sharing across firm types. In panel estimates, we also control for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity at the firm level and for changes in selected macroeconomic variables.
Keywords: credit access; information sharing; transition countries
JEL Codes: D82; G21; G28; O16; P34
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| information sharing (O36) | improved credit availability (G21) |
| information sharing (O36) | lower costs of credit (G21) |
| information sharing (O36) | improved credit availability for opaque firms (G32) |
| information sharing (O36) | lower costs of credit for opaque firms (G32) |
| information sharing (O36) | improved credit availability for smaller firms (G21) |
| information sharing (O36) | lower costs of credit for smaller firms (G21) |
| weaker legal environments (P37) | heightened effectiveness of information sharing (O36) |