A widely recognized paper by Colin Mayer (1988) has led to a profound revision of academicthinking about financing patterns of corporations in different countries. Using flow-of-funds datainstead of balance sheet data, Mayer and others who followed his lead found that internalfinancing is the...

Using data from a survey of 91 banks in 45 countries, the authors characterize bank financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world. They find that banks perceive the SME segment to be highly profitable, but perceive macroeconomic instability in developing countries and...