An Optimal Financial Response to Variable Demand
基于贸易信贷作为应对确定性需求波动的金融手段，构建了一个正理论，分析了信贷如何通过分割买方库存成本并实现专业化分工来降低总成本，从而增加买卖双方的财富。
This paper develops a positive theory of trade credit based on its use as a financial response to deterministic variations in demand. The operating alternatives to trade credit, which include the use of storage or additional capacity, are modeled using results from the peak-load pricing literature. The paper shows that the extension of credit partitions the buyer's inventory cost and permits specialization at incurring the components of this cost. This specialization is economical when the seller has an advantage at incurring the financial cost and does not have an advantage at incurring the operating cost of accommodating variable demand. Conditions that provide these necessary and sufficient cost relationships are described. The paper also shows that a reduction in costs rather than an increase in revenues is the source of both the buyer's and seller's increase in wealth.