DP6313 Information Sharing and Credit: Firm-Level Evidence from Transition Countries

Author(s): Martin Brown , Tullio Jappelli , Marco Pagano

Publication Date: May 2007

Keyword(s): credit access , information sharing , transition countries

JEL(s): D82 , G21 , G28 , O16 , P34

Programme Areas: Financial Economics

Link to this Page: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP6313.asp.asp

We investigate whether information sharing among banks has affected credit market performance in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, using a large sample of firm-level data. Our estimates show that information sharing is associated with improved availability and lower cost of credit to firms, and that this correlation is stronger for opaque firms than transparent firms. In cross-sectional estimates, we control for variation in country-level aggregate variables that may affect credit, by examining the differential impact of information sharing across firm types. In panel estimates, we also control for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity at the firm level and for changes in selected macroeconomic variables.