The trade credit channel and monetary policy transmission: Empirical evidence from US panel data

We investigate the US trade credit channel proposed by Meltzer (1960). We estimate reduced-form trade credit supply and demand models on quarterly firm-level data for most public corporations from 1988 to 2007. We use a novel method of distinguishing firms by access to funds using the indexes of Whited and Wu (2006) and Altman (1968). Tight monetary policy produced greater expansion of receivables than payables, expansion of receivables that varied by funds-access, and some expansion of payables by firms with poor access. Tight policy produced expansion of net trade credit by corporations which flowed to entities like private businesses, a major component of the channel. (C) 2020 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.