TY  - JOUR
AU  - Eichengreen,Barry
AU  - Mody,Ashoka
TI  - Lending Booms, Reserves, and the Sustainability of Short-Term Debt:  Inferences from the Pricing of Syndicated Bank Loans
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7113
PY  - 1999
Y2  - May 1999
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7113
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7113.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Barry Eichengreen
Department of Economics
University of California, Berkeley
549 Evans Hall 3880
Berkeley, CA 94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-2772
Fax: 510/643-0926
E-Mail: eichengr@econ.Berkeley.edu

Ashoka Mody
European Department
International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street, NW
Washington DC 20431
E-Mail: amody@imf.org
AB  - This paper analyzes the determinants of spreads on syndicated bank lending to emerging markets, treating the loan-extension and pricing decisions as jointly determined.  Compared to the bond market, our findings highlight the role of international banks in providing credit to smaller borrowers about whom information is least complete and, more generally, support the interpretation of bank finance as dominating that segment of international financial markets characterized by the most pronounced information asymmetries.  Domestic lending booms and low reserves in relation to short-term debt have been priced in the expected manner by international banks.  The high level of short-term debt in East Asia was supported by high growth rates but was characterized by a knife-edge quality.
ER  -