← Search

Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 147 No. 1 2023

Institutional investors, the dollar, and U.S. credit conditions

Friederike Niepmann1,2; Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr

1 Federal Reserve Board of Governors · 2 Federal Reserve

Abstract

A strong dollar has been associated with lower lending to emerging markets and tighter global financial conditions. This paper documents similar patterns for credit in the U.S. economy: when the U.S. broad dollar index appreciates by 1 percent, U.S. banks’ corporate loan originations fall by 4.5 percent, with banks tightening credit standards and lending to safer borrowers. This negative correlation, which we term the U.S. dollar credit channel, is at least in part driven by institutional investors, who reduce their demand for risky loans on the secondary loan market when the dollar appreciates. As it becomes harder to sell loans to these investors, banks lend less.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2022.08.003
Volume
147
Issue
1
Pages
198-220
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite