Rapidly Rising Corporate Debt: Are Firms Now Vulnerable to an Economic Slowdown?
نویسندگان
چکیده
In this edition of Current Issues, we investigate whether concerns over the buildup of U.S. corporate debt are in fact justified. We examine the health of the nonfinancial corporate sector on a firm-by-firm basis, focusing chiefly on three key measures of health: leverage, liquidity, and overall solvency.1 Our analysis suggests that the sector as a whole is in good shape, and that its f inancial health has actually improved during the late 1990s. Nonetheless, the health of small firms is not as robust as that of large ones, and small firms are continuing to experience a decline in health.
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