Interest Rates in Trade Credit Markets

Abstract

There is evidence that suppliers have private information about their customers' credit risk. Yet, interest rates in trade credit markets are usually industry-not-firm specific. Why? If the demand for intermediate products is inelastic, suppliers should raise interest rates until they reach their customers' outside option, which, by definition, cannot reflect information that is privy to suppliers. In contrast, a highly elastic demand induces suppliers with monopoly power to waive interest, making private information once more irrelevant to the trade-credit rate. By characterizing these two equilibria, we obtain implications on when trade-credit rates shouldn't vary with private information held by suppliers.Trade Credit; Invariance of Interest Rates