저금리･고차입 한계기업이 정상기업의 생산활동에 미치는 영향：외부감사대상 기업을 중심으로

[Purpose] The number of so－called zombie firms is rising as economic fundamentals are consistently deteriorating in the Korean economy. Zombie firms could cause congestion effects as they over－occupy limited resources that should be allocated to more productive firms. Therefore, this study examines the zombie congestion problems in the Korean economy and provides policy implications from the findings of this study. [Methodology] Cross－sectional regression analysis is performed using a sample of 99,667 firm－year observations for Korean non－financial firms over the period 2001－ 2019. [Findings] This study finds that the increase of insolvent zombie firms reduces investment and employment of non－zombie firms. The results suggest that the market’s effective price competition gets distorted as zombie firms take advantage of extremely low－cost financing and set lower markups on their products. In addition, growing number of zombie firms also decreases total factor productivity of non－zombie firms. [Policy Implications] Proactive and macroscopic measures on zombie firms should be taken in order to increase firm dynamics in the Korean economy. We also suggest policymakers and regulators step out of the conventional approach and actively investigate characteristics of zombie firms, especially considering the significant impact of zombie firms on resource misallocation.