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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 31 No. 1 1992

Contract costs, bank loans, and the cross-monitoring hypothesis

James R. Booth

Arizona State University

Abstract

I examine whether monitoring-related contract costs are reflected in bank loan spreads and find evidence that cross-monitoring by senior and subordinate claimholders is associated with smaller spreads. I also find that loan spreads reflect financial contract costs of controlling borrower behavior toward the assets being financed. These results support the importance of contract costs in firms' financing decisions and provide evidence of the importance of monitoring in bank lending arrangements.

DOI
10.1016/0304-405x(92)90010-u
Volume
31
Issue
1
Pages
25-41
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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