Increasingly, policymakers look to the small business sector as a potential engine of economic growth. Policies to promote small businesses include tax relief, direct subsidies, and indirect subsidies through government lending programs. Encouraging lending to small business is the primary...

The guaranteed lending progams of the Small Business Administration (SBA) are large and growing rapidly. The SBA's fiscal year 2009 Performance Budget call for 28 billion (Dollar) in guaranteed loans for small businesses - a new record for the agency. Some critics of SBA programs suggest they do...