an impressive variety of local financial institutions emerged to supply the needs of SMEs wherever there was sufficient …

. Using a sample of 45 countries, we find a strong, positive association between the importance of SMEs and GDP per capita … growth. The data do not, however, confidently support the conclusions that SMEs exert a causal impact on growth. Furthermore …, we find no evidence that SMEs alleviate poverty or decrease income inequality …

market. First, private SMEs typically utilize all available bank credit which comprises their entire balance sheet debt …, compared to large listed firms who can switch between corporate bonds and drawing from credit lines. Second, SMEs borrow … shorter maturity and pay higher interest rates relative to large publicly listed firms. Third, SMEs more frequently use future …