Does Money Buy Credit? Firm-Level Evidence on Bribery and Bank Debt

We combine information on bribery practices with firm-level accounting data to examine how bribery influences bank debt ratios for a large sample of firms in 14 transition countries. We find that bribery is positively related to firms' total bank debt ratios, which provides evidence that bribing bank officials facilitates firms' access to bank loans. This impact varies with the maturity of the bank debt, as bribery contributes to higher short-term bank debt ratios but lower long-term bank debt ratios. Finally, we find that the institutional characteristics of the banking industry influence the relation between bribery and firms' bank debt ratios.