Heterogeneous UIPDs Across Firms: Spillovers from U.S. Monetary Policy Shocks
Abstract
This paper investigates the granular transmission of U.S. monetary policy shocks to deviationsfrom the uncovered interest rate parity (UIPDs) in emerging economies. Using a comprehensive
dataset from Chile that accounts for firm-bank relationships and the time-variant characteristics
of both firms and banks, we uncover several key findings: (1) Shocks to the federal funds rate
(FFR) increase banks’ costs of foreign borrowing. (2) These higher credit costs disproportionately
affect small firms, raising their UIPDs more than for large firms. (3) This size-differentiated
impact stems from the relatively higher interest rates on domestic currency loans faced by small
firms. (4) In contrast, interest rates on dollar-denominated loans respond homogeneously across
all firms. (5) We find no differential effect on loan quantities, suggesting a significant role of
credit supply and demand dynamics. We rationalize these findings with a small open economy
model of corporate default that incorporates heterogeneous firms borrowing from domestic
banks in both foreign and domestic currencies. In our model, a higher FFR reduces the marginal
cost of defaulting on domestic-currency debt for small firms more than for large firms.