Using data for 91 large banks from 45 countries, this paper finds few differences in the extent, type, and pricing of SME loans across foreign, private, and government-owned banks, even though different bank ownership types apply different lending technologies and have different organizational...

Aggregate bank-loan data reported by the FDIC show that bank lending to small businesses plummeted during 2009-2011 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in Sep. 2008 and the onset of the financial crisis, and continued to decline during the post-crisis years 2012-2015. However, the number...

We use data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys to test the importance of governance to the availability of credit. We model the credit-allocation process for SMEs in three steps. Based upon these steps, we classify small businesses into four groups based upon their credit needs – firms...

In the U.S., individual parties who file for bankruptcy can exempt a certain dollar amount of property from creditor liquidation during the debt settlement process. We examine the effect of changes to these protection laws on bank lending to small businesses. Our results indicate that additional...

This paper uses cross-country firm-level surveys to gauge access to financial services and the importance of financing constraints for African enterprises. The paper compares access to finance in Africa and other developing regions of the world, within Africa across countries, and across...

Can distance-related information asymmetries in credit markets be overcome with contract design and credit scoring models? To answer this question, we explore differences in foreign and domestic banks' credit contract terms and pricing models. Using a sample of firms that borrow from both...

We analyze changes in lending by U.S. banks to businesses during 1994 – 2011. We find thatlending to businesses and, in particular, to small businesses, declined precipitously followingonset of the financial crisis. We also examine the relative changes in business lending by banksthat did, and...