Do policies that promote credit access have an impact on targeted borrowers? To address this question, we develop a theoretical model of information production, regulation and bank competition and test its predictions using the Community Reinvestment Act's small businesses lending program. The...

This paper analyzes how bank regulation that promotes greater access to credit impacts the financing of targeted small firms. It develops a model where banks compete with trade creditors to fund small firms and applies it to study the effects of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The...