Using a unique dataset based on the Bank of Italy's organizational survey, we find that – after having controlled for bank size – loan officers' authority has a key role in explaining bank specialization in small business lending. In particular, banks that delegate more decision-making power...

Based on a unique hand-collected database of 389 loans obtained from a French social bank dealing with small businesses, this paper compares two predictive models of future default events: the first relies on soft information (SI model), the second on hard information (HI model). The results...

We examine banks' choice between two costly instruments used to identify good loan applicants: direct screening by acquiring borrower-specific information and collateral requirements. We show that with longer relationships the preference for screening increases both in initial and in later...

Small business lending has historically been very local, but distances between small businesses and their lenders have steadily increased over the last forty years. This paper investigates a new lending strategy made possible by distant small business lending: industry specialization. Using data...

We empirically examine the impact of bank consolidation on bank acquisition of soft information about borrowers. Using a dataset of small business financing, we find that mergers of small banks have a negative impact on soft information acquisition, whereas mergers of large banks have no impact....