거래신용과 타인자본비용의 관련성: 정보불균형 완화 효과를 중심으로

This study investigates the impact of trade credit on the cost of debt using a dataset of 11,574 observations from companies listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets between 2012 and 2022. Additionally, it explores how trade credit affects the mitigation of information asymmetry differently between large business groups and non-large business groups in Korea. The findings are as follows: First, there is a U-shaped, non-linear relationship between trade credit and the cost of debt. This indicates that while trade credit helps lower debt costs by reducing information asymmetry, excessive trade credit can harm a company's liquidity and signal negatively to the market, leading to increased debt costs. Second, this U-shaped relationship is observed only in non-large business groups, which operate in environments with less regulation and oversight, where information asymmetry issues are more prevalent. In these groups, trade credit appears to alleviate information asymmetry more effectively, thus reducing the cost of debt. This paper is significant as it focuses on the role of trade credit in mitigating information asymmetry and examines the non-linear relationship between trade credit and debt costs. It also underscores the importance of maintaining an optimal level of trade credit to ensure liquidity stability and manage the cost of debt effectively.