Firms and the global crisis: French exports in the turmoil

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bricongne, Jean-Charles; Fontagne, Lionel; Gaulier, Guillaume; Taglioni, Dada; Vicard, Vincent
• 署名单位: The World Bank; European Central Bank; Paris School of Economics; heSam Universite; Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2011.07.002
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 134-146
• 关键词: FINANCIAL CRISIS; credit constraints; International trade collapse; Firms' heterogeneity; Intensive and extensive margins

摘要

Global trade contracted quickly and severely during the global crisis. This paper uses a unique dataset of French firms to match export data to firm-level credit constraints and shows that most of the 2008-2009 trade collapse was due to the unprecedented demand shock and to product characteristics. While all firms have been affected by the crisis, the effect on large firms has been mainly at the intensive margin and has resulted in a smaller portfolio of products being offered to export destinations. The effect on smaller exporters has been to reduce the range of destinations served or to stop exporting altogether. Credit constraints have been an added aggravation for firms active in high financial dependence sectors. However, the share of credit constrained firms is small and their number has not increased hugely during the crisis, with the result that the overall impact of credit constraints on trade has been limited. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.