Kilian Huber, University of Chicago

Tracing the International Transmission of a Crisis Through Multinational Firms

Abstract:

We study how shocks to individual firms propagate globally, beyond countries where shocked firms operate. We identify a shock to one firm, a German bank, which resulted in a lending cut to German firms. Multinational parent firms located in Germany were directly harmed by the lending cut. International affiliates of affected multinationals supported their parents through internal lending and their real growth fell sharply. The total impact in foreign countries was large. The findings reveal that shocks to individual firms can impact growth internationally, even if firms operate only in one country, and that global internal capital markets propagate shocks.

Kilian Huber studies the interaction between the financial sector and the real economy. He uses empirical methods to explore how financial crises affect growth, how borrowing and stock prices depend on underlying constraints, and how financial regulation affects real outcomes. His research has been published in the American Economic Review.

Prior to joining Booth, Huber was the Saieh Family Fellow in Macroeconomics at the Becker Friedman Institute of the University of Chicago.

Huber received a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). During his studies, Huber spent time as a visiting student researcher at the Center for Labor Economics at UC Berkeley, and as an academic visitor in monetary analysis at the Bank of England. Additionally, he earned a Master of Research in economics, a Master of Science in economics, and a Bachelor of Science in economics all from LSE.

 You can read more about Kilian Huber and his research here

CEBI contact: Niels Johannesen