← Search

Journal of Financial Intermediation Vol. 6 No. 3 1997

Absolute Priority Rule Violations, Credit Rationing, and Efficiency

Stanley D. Longhofer

Federal Reserve

Abstract

Violations of the absolute priority rule (APR) are commonplace in private workouts, formal business reorganizations, and personal bankruptcies. While some theorists suggest they may arise endogenously, they are clearly magnified by the institutional structure of the bankruptcy code. This paper shows that APR violations exacerbate credit rationing problems by reducing the payment lenders receive in default states. Furthermore, APR violations make default more likely to occur, thereby making debt financing more costly. Together, these results support the view that APR violations create an impediment to efficient financial contracting.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: G33, G38, K20.

DOI
10.1006/jfin.1997.0220
Volume
6
Issue
3
Pages
249-267
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite