Financing firms in hibernation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Tatiana Didier, Federico Huneeus, Mauricio Larrain and Sergio Schmukler

Journal of Financial Stability, 2021, vol. 53, issue C

Abstract: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic halted economic activity worldwide, hurting firms and pushing many of them toward bankruptcy. This paper discusses four central issues that have emerged in the academic and policy debates related to firm financing during the downturn. First, the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic is radically different from past crises, with important consequences for optimal policy responses. Second, it is important to preserve firms’ relationships with key stakeholders (e.g., workers, suppliers, customers, and creditors) to avoid inefficient bankruptcies and long-term detrimental economic effects. Third, firms can benefit from “hibernation,” incurring the minimum bare expenses necessary to withstand the pandemic while using credit to remain alive until the crisis subdues. Fourth, the existing legal and regulatory infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with an exogenous systemic shock like a pandemic. Financial sector policies can help channel credit to firms, but they are hard to implement and entail different trade-offs.

Keywords: Cash crush; Coronavirus; Credit risk; Financial policies; Firm relationships (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G28 G32 G33 G38 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (81)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1572308920301406
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
Working Paper: Financing Firms in Hibernation during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finsta:v:53:y:2021:i:c:s1572308920301406

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfs.2020.100837

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Financial Stability is currently edited by I. Hasan, W. C. Hunter and G. G. Kaufman

More articles in Journal of Financial Stability from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().