Determinants of Corporate Loans and Bonds before and After Economic Crisis in Korea

• Main Author: Lim, Young jae
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea Development Institute 2006-12-01
• Series: KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• Subjects: Economic Crisis(경제위기); Corporate Loans Market(기업대출시장); Corporate Bonds Market(회사채시장); Chaebols(재벌)
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2005.28.2.239

The paper suggests that there has been a shift in the allocation of bank credit from large firms to small firms before and after the economic crisis. The paper also suggests that the improved lending practices of financial institutions, at least partially, contributed to this shift of corporate loans from large firms to small firms. Comparing the periods before and after the economic crisis also suggests that some important changes occurred to the corporate bond market. The effect of firm size on the corporate bond market differs before and after the economic crisis. Before the crisis, the larger the firms, the more they could borrow in the corporate bond market. However, after the crisis, it is not the case. The following interpretation could be put forward. Before the crisis, investors in the corporate bond market expected that the government would rescue large firms if they face the risk of bankruptcies. However, the collapse of Daewoo Group in 1999 shattered the TBTF (Too Big To Fail) myth of the public. The liquidity crisis of Hyundai Group in 2000-2001 reinforced the disintegration of the TBTF myth.