Two Years into COVID, What’s the State of U.S. Businesses?

Paul, Pascal

Journal Article

Two Years into COVID, What’s the State of U.S. Businesses?

Abstract: More than two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, concerns remain that U.S. businesses are substantially more vulnerable and less productive than in the past. Using extensive data on private and public firms allows for a detailed assessment of these concerns. According to a number of performance measures, businesses borrowing from large U.S. banks appear relatively healthy, increased leverage is concentrated among safer companies rather than riskier ones, and probabilities of default are close to pre-crisis levels.

Keywords: covid19; borrowing; leverage; default; economic conditions;