We analyze the impact of the countercyclical capital buffers held by banks on the supply of credit to firms and their subsequent performance. Countercyclical ‘dynamic’ provisioning unrelated to specific loan losses was introduced in Spain in 2000, and modified in 2005 and 2008. The resultant...

In this paper we explore the effects of bank-borrower physical proximity on price and non-price aspects of small business lending in local credit markets. Along the price dimension, our analysis reveals that interest rates increase with bank-borrower distance and decrease with the distance...

Purpose – An established paradigm in small business lending is segmented by bank size with large banks more likely to lend to large informationally transparent firms while small banks are more likely to lend to small informationally opaque firms. In light of banking consolidation, this market...

This paper examines empirically the effects of multiple banking relationships on the cost and availability of credit. The analysis is based on an unbalanced panel data set for Japanese small and medium-sized firms over the period 2000–2002. The Hausman-Taylor estimator is used to allow for...

The recent wave of foreign investment in China's banks and the prospects of further opening of the banking sector under the WTO agreement suggest that foreign banks are likely to play an increasingly important role in China. This paper takes stock of the involvement of foreign banks in the...

This paper uses provincial time series data from China to empirically investigate two propositions relating to economic development: (i) that economic takeoff is associated with technological transfer through foreign direct investment (FDI); and (ii) that takeoff is accompanied, at least in the...

Establishments in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan locations are surprisingly similar in their adoption of new technologies, worker skill requirements, use of government programs and technical assistance, exports, and sources of financing, according to the results of a nationwide survey of 3,909...

We employ a unique data set containing bank-specific information to explore how foreign bank entry determines credit allocation in emerging markets. We investigate the impact of the mode of foreign entry (greenfield or takeover) on banks' portfolio allocation to borrowers with different degrees...

This paper explores empirically the effect of consolidation in the French banking industry and of Basel II on the availability of credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Consolidation has been associated with an increase in the number of banks the average firm borrows from and this...

This paper presents empirical evidence from a representative sample of Tunisian firms on the importance of loan officers in the production of 'soft information' by opposition of 'hard' information, testing whether firm borrowers have a relationship with their bank or with their loan officer. To...