Credit Lines and Credit Utilization
实证研究借款人获得信用额度后如何使用，发现预期未来信用质量下降的借款人会为了保持财务灵活性而申请信用额度，并分析了信用质量变化对使用行为的影响。
While much is known about the characteristics of consumers or businesses that obtain credit lines, relatively little is known empirically about credit line utilization after origination. This study fills that gap by testing two interrelated hypotheses concerning borrower credit quality and credit line utilization. The empirical analysis confirms that borrowers with higher expectations of future credit quality deterioration originate credit lines to preserve financial flexibility. Furthermore, we estimate a competing risks model that confirms our predictions concerning changes in borrower credit line utilization in response to borrower credit quality shocks.