We perform transaction-level analyses of entrusted loans—one of the largest components of shadow banking in China. Entrusted loans involve firms with privileged access to cheap capital channeling funds to less privileged firms, and increase when credit is tight. Nonaffiliated loans have much...

We investigate the real effects of shadow banking in the case of technological innovation. Using manually collected entrusted loan data, we find that firm-to-firm entrusted loans, once the largest part of the shadow banking sector in China, enhance the borrowers’ innovation output. The effects...