We investigate two questions: (1) Do bank lending decisions to small and medium-sized firms provide information about these firms' future financial performance? (2) Does this predictability vary across different stages of the credit cycle? Based on a unique, detailed data set of all Norwegian...

We investigate two questions: (1) Do bank lending decisions to small and medium-sized firms provide information about these fi rms' future fi nancial performance? (2) Does this predictability vary across different stages of the credit cycle? Based on a unique, detailed data set of all Norwegian...

In this paper, we find that reduced credit supply reduces firm investments in our sample of small private firms. The effect is strongest for the least financially constrained firms. We use a representative survey of identified Norwegian firms that is linked with financial, bank account and...