We analyze small business lending at U.S. commercial banks, how it has changed over time and how it differs by bank … negative impact on lending to small businesses at community banks but not their large bank counterparts. This result suggests … important insights for policy makers as they continue to deal with the credit access issues of small firms. …

We develop a model of bank lending that allows for credit rationing in equilibrium. Recognizing that small firms incur … a higher percentage cost of monitoring than large firms, the model shows that the incidence of bank credit rationing … consistent with a pattern of a differentially greater degree of rationing of credit to small borrowers during the Great Recession …