Credit Conditions and the Cyclical Behavior of Inventories

This paper examines micro data on U. S. manufacturing firms' inventory behavior during different macroeconomic episodes. Much of the analysis focuses on the 1981–1982 recession, which was apparently caused in large part by tight monetary policy. We find that the inventory investment of firms without access to public bond markets is significantly liquidity-constrained during this period. A similar pattern emerges during the 1974–1975 recession, in which tight money also appears to have played a role. In contrast, such liquidity constraints are largely absent during periods of looser monetary policy in the 1970s and 1980s.

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