Credit Rationing and Pass-Through in Supply Chains: Theory and Evidence from Bangladesh

Traders are often blamed for high prices, prompting government regulation. We study the effects of a government ban of a layer of financing intermediaries in edible oil supply chain in Bangladesh during 2011–2012. Contrary to the predictions of a standard model of an oligopolistic supply chain, the ban caused downstream wholesale and retail prices to rise, and pass-through of the changes in imported crude oil price to fall. These results can be explained by an extension of the standard model to incorporate trade credit frictions, where intermediaries expand credit access of downstream traders. (JEL L13, L14, L66, O13, Q11, Q13, Q17)

History Dependence in the Housing Market

Using data on the universe of housing transactions in England and Wales over a 20-year period, we document that sale prices and selling propensities are affected by house prices prevailing in the period in which properties were previously bought. Using administrative data on mortgages, we show that cognitive frictions explain most of the history dependence in sale prices, whereas credit frictions are more relevant for selling propensities. We corroborate our analysis with data on online house listings, and we estimate the impact of history dependence on the collapse and slow recovery of housing market activity in the postcrisis period. (JEL E32, R21, R31)

Empirical evidence on Non-Performing Loans and credit frictions: banking sector in Tunisia

Purpose: This paper explores the most important determinants of friction in the Tunisian credit market. The previous literature argued that friction is largely explained by the increase in Non-Performing Loans Nkusu, 2011; Abadi et al. 2014; Rulyasri et al.2017, Roland et all, 2013. Research methodology: We constructed a multivariate Vector Error Correction Model, with five macroeconomic variables (industrial production index, the money supply, money market interest rate) to examine the impact of Non-Performing Loans increase in amplifying the Tunisian credit frictions. Results: The Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) regression results show a negative and important relationship between economic growth and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) ratio, which is very robust during the political crisis of 2011. The money market interest rate and the money supply are positively related to the Non-Performing loan ratio. Limitation: This study was only focused on Tunisian banking sector as one of the pillars of the Tunisian economy. Contributions: This highlights that the nature of the monetary policy adopted by the monetary authority of Tunisia plays a significant role in the fluctuation of the Non-Performing Loans ratio. Bank capitalization is positively and statistically significant with Non-Performing Loan ratio, implying that banks with a low level of capital are more likely to have a riskier credit portfolio that causes the increase of Non-Performing Loans in their balance sheet.