El Crédito Comercial y la Crisis Crediticia: un Análisis Descriptivo en Europa; Reino Unido y España / The Trade Credit and Credit Crunch: a Descriptive Analysis in Europe, UK and Spain

The use of trade credit as a short-term financing is increasing in the last years; large firms use more days to pay small firms than they need, which causes financial fatal consequences to suppliers. These financial problems are not new, but with the credit crunch they are coming up because the massive use of the trade credit impacts negatively on suppliers whose insolvency and bankruptcy risks increase. In this paper we review in a descriptive way the use of trade credit in the credit crunch. The main contributions of the paper are two. Firstly, we show the financial consequences of the use of trade credit, and specifically in credit crisis, and how UK government develop public payment policies to reduce the negative effect of delete payments. Secondly, we study and compare the situation of European countries in terms of payment to suppliers, and in particular the case of UK, but also Spanish case.