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Working Paper
Loan officers and relationship lending to SMEs
Previous research suggests that loan officers play a critical role in relationship lending by producing soft information about SMEs. For the first time, we empirically confirm this hypothesis We also examine whether the role of loan officers differs from small to large banks as predicted by Stein (2002). While we find that small banks produce more soft information, the capacity and manner in which loan officers produce soft information does not seem to differ between large and small banks. This suggests that, although large banks may produce more soft information, they likely tend to ...
Report
Credit market competition and the nature of firms
Empirical studies show that competition in the credit markets has important effects on the entry and growth of firms in nonfinancial industries. This paper explores the hypothesis that the availability of credit at the time of a firm's founding has a profound effect on that firm's nature. I conjecture that in times when financial capital is difficult to obtain, firms will need to be built as relatively solid organizations. However, in an environment of easily available financial capital, firms can be constituted with an intrinsically weaker structure. To test this conjecture, I use ...
Working Paper
How committed are bank lines of credit? Experiences in the subprime mortgage crisis
Using the subprime mortgage crisis as a shock, this paper shows that commercial borrowers served by more distressed banks (as measured by recent bank stock returns or the nonperforming loan ratio) took down fewer funds from precommitted, formal lines of credit. The credit constraints affected mainly smaller, riskier (by internal loan ratings), and shorter-relationship borrowers, and depended also on the lenders' size, liquidity condition, capitalization position, and core deposit funding. The evidence suggests that credit lines provided only contingent and partial insurance during the crisis ...
Journal Article
Microfinance in good times and bad: Yankee ingenuity keeps microfinance strong
With banks still facing challenges, alternative sources of credit are likely to play an increasingly important role in financing small businesses. The authors describe what ACCION USA has learned as its approach to microlending has evolved.
Working Paper
Potential competitive effects of Basel II on banks in SME credit markets in the United States
We examine the likely competitive effects of the proposed implementation of the Basel II capital requirements on banks in the market for credit to SMEs in the U.S. Specifically, we address whether reduced risk weights for SME credits extended by large banking organizations that adopt the Advanced Internal Ratings-Based (A-IRB) approach of Basel II might significantly adversely affect the competitive positions of organizations that do not adopt A-IRB. The analyses suggest only a relatively minor competitive effect on the majority of community banks primarily because the organizations that are ...
Working Paper
A question of liquidity: the great banking run of 2008?
The current financial crisis has given rise to a new type of bank run, one that affects both the banks' assets and liabilities. In this paper we combine information from the commercial paper market with loan level data from the Survey of Terms of Business Loans to show that during the 2007-2008 financial crises banks suffered a run on credit lines. First, as in previous crises, we find an increase in the usage of credit lines as commercial spreads widen, especially among the lowest quality firms. Second, as the crises deepened, firms drew down their credit lines out of fear that the weakened ...
Speech
Implications of a credit crunch.
Presented by Eric S. Rosengren, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, at The Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Manchester, New Hampshire, September 3, 2008
Report
Gender and the availability of credit to privately held firms: evidence from the surveys of small business finances
This study analyzes differences by gender in the ownership of privately held U.S. firms and examines the role of gender in the availability of credit. Using data from the nationally representative Surveys of Small Business Finances, which span a period of sixteen years, we document a series of empirical regularities in male- and female-owned firms. Looking at the differences by gender, we find that female-owned firms are 1) significantly smaller, as measured by sales, assets, and employment; 2) younger, as measured by age of the firm; 3) more likely to be organized as proprietorships and less ...