국내 중소기업의 과잉부채가 설비투자에 미치는 영향

This paper empirically analyzes the impact of excessive debt of Korean Small and Medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) on their investment. It takes into consideration that Korean SMEs’ excessively high debt levels have been notably prominent due to the prolonged low interest rate circumstances following the 2008 global financial crisis and the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Using their financial and income statement information from Korea Rating and Data(KoData) and fixed-effects panel models for the period from 2011 to 2023, the empirical analysis reveals that the negative impact of debt overhang on investment is more pronounced in SMEs compared to large enterprises, and this impact is amplified during the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the analysis indicates nonlinearities between debt overhang and investments from the result of significantly greater impact on over-leveraged SMEs in the top third quartile of debt levels. These results suggest the need for improving the financial structure of the SMEs with excessive debt relative to their profits of cash flows and underline the importance of business transformation and long-term restructuring policies for those with high debt levels with minimal economic contribution such as Zombie firms. Additionally, it implies that it is necessary to devise measures to enhance the effectiveness of SME policies along with tax and financial support to stimulate their investments.