Authors

Sireen Nadaf

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Common shocks are known to affect different sectors of the economy differently. This study investigates how two recent major shocks on the U.S. economy, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic, have impacted debt performance of firms in different industries. Six industries were considered for this purpose: automobile, entertainment, healthcare, information technology (IT), transportation, and fire, insurance, and real estate (FIRE). The debt performances of selected leading firms in these industries were evaluated on the basis of several debt indicators, such as debt to equity ratios, Altman’s Z-scores, and short-term debt ratios. By using data for the period of 2006 to 2020, this study found that the impact of common shocks varied widely not only across industries, but also within industries. The heterogeneous impacts are also found in the effect of monetary and fiscal policy actions taken in response to the common shocks. The impacts turned out to be stronger in transportation, FIRE, and automobile industries than healthcare, entertainment, and IT industries.

Publication Date

5-1-2021

Language

English

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