Imports and credit rationing. A firm-level investigation
Firm performance is known to benefit from participation in import markets. For this reason, understanding whether credit constraints hamper firms’ ability to purchase foreign inputs is a relevant issue. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between financial constraints and imports of intermediate inputs using a large sample of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises from 66 developing countries. To measure credit constraints, we use information from a firm's in‐depth self‐assessment of its difficulties in having access to external finance.