Research

Publications

Female Entrepreneurship, Financial Frictions and Capital Misallocation in the U.S. (with Marta Morazzoni)

Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol 129, pages 93-118, July 2022

ABSTRACT: We document and quantify the effect of a gender gap in credit access on both entrepreneurship and input misallocation in the US. Female entrepreneurs are found to be more likely to face a rejection on their loan applications and to have a higher average product of capital, a sign of gender-driven capital misallocation that decreases in female-led firms’ access to finance. These results are not driven by differences in observable individual or businesses characteristics. Calibrating a heterogeneous agents model of entrepreneurship to the US economy, we show that the observed gap in credit access explains the bulk of the gender differences in capital allocation across firms. Eliminating such credit imbalance is estimated to potentially increase output by 4%, and to reduce capital misallocation by 12%.
Winner of the Young Economist Award from the European Economic Association and UniCredit Foundation in 2021

Working Papers

Credit and Firm Growth (with Beatriz González)

ABSTRACT: Using the quasi-universe of Spanish firms, we uncover new facts on corporate borrowing choice and the implications on firm activity. First, the use of unsecured (cash flow) loans follows a U-shaped pattern across the size distribution, implying that this type of loan is used not only by the largest firms, but also by the smallest firms. Second, loan type choice correlates with different growth patterns – firms with asset-based (cash flow) loans have higher investment rate (employment growth). To rationalize our findings, we build a firm dynamics model with endogenous debt choice and cost of pledging collateral. Our calibrated model reproduces cross-sectional data moments across the firm size distribution. We use the model to understand the micro and macro implications of the collateral and bankruptcy reforms in Spain. Finally, we show that a framework that ignores the presence of both loan types overestimates the extent of output loss from financial frictions.

Work in Progress

Debiased Analysis of the Productivity Advantage of Cities (with Vladislav Morozov)

Low Interest Rates and Zombie Lending (with Lauri Esala)

Policy Papers

The Role and Impact of Infrastructure in Middle-income Countries: Anything Special? (with A. Abiad and M. Debuque-Gonzales) [ADB Working Paper]

Emerging Markets Finance and Trade 54(6), 1239-1263, 2018

– Background material for the Asian Development Outlook 2017

Rail Mass Transit and Property Values: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis”, with A. Abiad, A.V. Adona and B.T. Lumbera,

Asian Development Bank, Manila. Background Paper.

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