Financial theory indicates that bank–firm relationships can induce a hold-up problem, resulting in higher interest rates. Yet only weak empirical confirmation of this result exists. Moreover, the potential influence of the business cycle on the bank–firm relationship still requires empirical consideration. With a unique contracts data set, collected from a French cooperative bank between 1996 and 2009, this study shows that the effects of bank–firm relationships on the credit rate depend on economic conditions and that the hold-up problem is at play only during economic recessions.

During 1992–2007, suppliers financed almost 10% of the total assets of US listed firms. This intensive usage of trade credit is puzzling in the light of its high (implicit) costs. By arguing that trade credit use provides valuable information to outside investors, we first derive a theoretical model that predicts a positive correlation between trade credit use and the quality of the firm’s investments. Then, using several proxies for firm’s investment quality (Z-score, return on assets, and long-run abnormal returns), we show that this prediction receives strong support from a large sample of US firms.