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Working Paper
Debt Flexibility
How flexible are corporate loans after origination? Theory predicts coordination problems should make syndicated loans harder to modify than single-bank loans. We show the opposite. Using comprehensive regulatory data, we document that syndicated loans are modified frequently and respond to borrower distress, while single-lender loans are half as likely to be modified. This gap is not explained by covenants or performance pricing. Instead, syndicated loans are monitored more intensively. We show theoretically and empirically how fixed monitoring costs generate scale economies: larger loans ...
Working Paper
Shared Destinies? Small Banks and Small Business Consolidation
We identify a new source of bank consolidation in the United States. For decades, boththe financial and real sides of the economy have experienced considerable consolidation. Weshow that banking-sector consolidation is, in part, a consequence of real-sector consolidation;because small banks are a disproportionate source of small-business credit, they are disproportionately exposed to shocks to small-business growth. Using a Bartik instrument based onnational small-business trends and county-level industry exposure, we show that changes tothe real-side demand for small-business credit is ...
Working Paper
Debt Flexibility
This paper documents new facts on the modification of bank loans using FR Y-14Q regulatory data on C&I loans. We find that loan-level modifications of key contractual terms, such as interest and maturity, occur at least once for 41% of loans. Cross sectional differences in modifications are substantial and amplified by borrower distress. Relative to single-lender loans, syndicated loans are 1.5 times more likely to be modified and interest rate changes are twice as likely. Our findings call into question whether 1) creditor dispersion makes loan modifications more challenging and 2) ...