Towards a Theory of Trade Finance

Cross border transactions are conducted using diffierent payment contracts, the usage of which varies across countries and over time. In this paper I build a model that can explain this observation and study implications from this for international trade. In the model exporters optimally choose payment contracts, trading off differences in enforcement and efficiency between financial markets in different countries. I find that the ability of firms to switch contracts is central to the reaction of trade to variations in financial conditions. Numerical experiments with a two-country version of the model suggest that limiting the choice between payment contracts reduces traded quantities by up to 60 percent.trade finance, payment contracts, trade patterns, financial crisis

Towards a Theory of Trade Finance

Shipping goods internationally is risky and takes time. To allocate risk and to finance the time gap between production and sale, a range of payment contracts is utilized. I study the optimal choice between these payment contracts considering one shot transactions, repeated transactions and implications for trade. The equilibrium contract is determined by financial market characteristics and contracting environments in both the source and the destination country. Trade increases in enforcement probabilities and decreases in financing costs proportional to the time needed for trade. Empirical results from gravity regressions are in line with the model, highly significant and economically relevant.trade finance, payment contracts, trade patterns, distance interaction

Bank Bail-Outs, International Linkages and Cooperation

Financial institutions are increasingly linked internationally and engaged in cross-border operations. As a result, financial crises and potential bail-outs by governments have important international implications. Extending Allen and Gale (2000) we provide a model of international contagion allowing for bank bail-outs financed by distortionary taxes. In the sequential game between governments, there are inefficiencies due to spillovers, free-riding and limited burden-sharing. When countries are of equal size, an increase in cross-border deposit holdings improves, in general, the non-cooperative outcome. For efficient crisis managment, ex-ante fiscal burden sharing is essential as ex-post contracts between governments do not achieve the same global welfare.bail-out, contagion, financial crisis, international institutional arrangements

Heterogeneous firms, "Profit Shifting" FDI and international tax competition

Larger firms are more likely to use tax haven operations to exploit international tax differences. We study a tax game between a large country and a tax haven modeling heterogenous monopolistic firms, which can shift profits abroad. We shows that a higher degree of firm heterogeneity (a mean-preserving spread of the cost distribution) increases the degree of tax competition, i.e. it decreases the equilibrium tax rate of the large country, leads to higher outflows of its tax base and thus decreases its equilibrium tax revenue. Similar effects hold for a higher substitutability across varieties. We find that models with homogeneous firms understate the strenght of tax competition.Heterogeneous firms, tax competition, profit shifting, tax havens.

Bank Bailouts, International Linkages and Cooperation

Financial institutions are increasingly linked internationally. As a result, financial crisis and government intervention have stronger effects beyond borders. We provide a model of international contagion allowing for bank bailouts. While a social planner trades off tax distortions, liquidation losses and intra- and intercountry income inequality, in the noncooperative game between governments there are inefficiencies due to externalities, no burden sharing and free-riding. We show that, in absence of cooperation, stronger interbank linkages make government interests diverge, whereas cross-border asset holdings tend to align them. We analyze different forms of cooperation and their effects on global and national welfare.Portfolio choice, international transmission of shocks, monetary policy

Bank Bailouts, International Linkages and Cooperation

Financial institutions are increasingly linked internationally. As a result, financial crisis and government intervention have stronger effects beyond borders. We provide a model of international contagion allowing for bank bailouts. While a social planner trades off tax distortions, liquidation losses and intra- and inter-country income inequality, in the non-cooperative game between governments there are inefficiencies due to externalities, no burden sharing and free-riding. We show that, in absence of cooperation, stronger interbank linkages make government interests diverge, whereas cross-border asset holdings tend to align them. We analyze different forms of cooperation and their effects on global and national welfare.bailout, contagion, financial crisis, international institutional arrangements

Towards a Theory of Trade Finance

Shipping goods internationally is risky and takes time. Therefore, trading partners not only have to agree on the specification and the price of a good, but also on the timing of payments. To allocate risk and to finance the time gap between production and sale, a range of different payment contracts is utilized, broadly classified into exporter finance (Open Account), importer finance (Cash in Advance) and bank finance (Letter of Credit). I study the optimal choice between these three types of payment contracts considering one shot transactions, repeated transactions and implications for trade. The equilibrium contract is determined by financial market characteristics and contracting environments in both the source and the destination country. Trade increases in enforcement probabilities and decreases in financing costs. The latter effect is the larger, the longer the time needed for trade. I use a panel of bilateral trade flows to test these predictions, running gravity regressions that include interaction terms between distance and financing costs. Results are in line with the model, highly significant and economically relevant

Trade Finance, Bank Bail-outs and Profit Taxation in an Interconnected World.

Countries are increasingly linked internationally. The three models developed in this thesis shed light on how firms and governments respond to the increasing interconnectedness of the world economy, analyzing profit taxation, trade finance and government intervention in the event of a contagious banking crisis. They can help understand in how far integration is beneficial or harmful and what optimal policies might be. My first paper, which is joint work with Sebastian Krautheim, is based on the finding that larger firms are more likely to use tax haven operations to exploit international tax differences. We study a tax game between a large country and a tax haven modeling heterogeneous monopolistic firms, which can shift profits abroad. We show that a higher degree of firm heterogeneity increases the degree of tax competition, i.e. it decreases the equilibrium tax rate of the large country, leads to higher out flows of its tax base and thus decreases its equilibrium tax revenue. Similar effects hold for a higher substitutability across varieties. My second paper takes a first step towards building a theory of trade finance. Cross border transactions are conducted using different payment contracts, the usage of which varies across countries and over time. I build a model that can explain this observation and study its implications for international trade. In the model exporters switch between payment contracts optimally, trading of differences in enforcement and efficiency between financial markets in different countries. I find that the ability of firms to switch contracts is key to understand how trade flows respond to variations in financial conditions. Numerical experiments with a two-country version of the model suggest that limiting the choice between payment contracts reduces traded quantities by up to 60 percent. The third paper, which is joint work with Friederike Niepmann, analyzes ex-post intervention by governments in response to international banking crises under different cooperation regimes. Financial institutions are increasingly linked internationally and engaged in cross-border operations. As a result, financial crises and potential bail-outs by governments have important international implications. Extending Allen and Gale (2000) we provide a model of international contagion allowing for bank bail-outs financed by distortionary taxes. We single out inefficiencies due to spillovers, free-riding and limited burden-sharing. When countries are of equal size, an increase in cross-border deposit holdings improves, in general, the non-cooperative outcome. For efficient crisis management, ex-ante fiscal burden sharing is essential as ex-post contracts between governments do not achieve the same global welfare.International trade -- European Economic Community countries; Profit-sharing -- Taxation -- Law and legislation; Bank failures -- Economic aspects;

Wages and International Tax Competition

Firms generating larger surpluses on average pay higher wages. We study the effect of this rent-sharing between firms and workers on international tax competition. In our model, firms in a large country can shift surplus to a tax haven. In the benchmark case firms only have a tax incentive for profit shifting as shifted surplus is fully taken into account in the wage bargaining. In this case rent-sharing decreases the competitive pressure on the large country and leads to higher equilibrium tax rates. When workers do not observe the full surplus shifted, a wage incentive arises. Profit shifting then becomes more attractive as it reduces the surplus bargained over with workers. If this effect is sufficiently strong, rent-sharing increases the competitive pressure on the large country, which implies a lower equilibrium tax rate