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Distance still matters: the information revolution in small business lending and the persistent role of location, 1993-2003

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Abstract

In a seminal article on small business lending, Petersen & Rajan (2002) argue that technological changes have revolutionized small business lending markets, weakening the reliance of small businesses on local lenders and increasing geographic distances between firms and their credit suppliers. While their data only cover through 1993, they conjecture that the pace of change accelerated after 1993. Using the 1993, 1998, and 2003 Surveys of Small Business Finances (SSBFs), we test whether the distance changes identified by Petersen and Rajan continued or accelerated during the following decade. Using a novel application of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, we identify the extent to which specific observable characteristics are associated with distance changes and draw three conclusions. First, while distances increased between 1993 and 1998 at a faster rate than found by Petersen & Rajan, distance increases appear to have halted or possibly reversed between 1998 and 2003. Second, rather than increasing proportionally for all small firms, distance increases were uneven across firms over the decade, with higher credit quality firms and firms with more experienced ownership realizing greater gains in distance than other firms. Finally, distances increased faster at older firms and, regardless of firm age, increases in distance have only affected some product types, primarily those involving asset-back loans (including mortgages). For relationships that involved the provision of either lines of credit or multiple types of credit, distances increased very little or not at all during the decade. This analysis provides a detailed and nuanced view of how the market for small business credit has evolved during a period of rapid technological change.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth P. Brevoort & John A. Holmes & John D. Wolken, 2010. "Distance still matters: the information revolution in small business lending and the persistent role of location, 1993-2003," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2010-08, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2010-08
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Dell’Ariccia & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Camelia Minoiu & Lev Ratnovski, 2021. "Bank Lending in the Knowledge Economy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(10), pages 5036-5076.
    2. Carlson, Mark & Shan, Hui & Warusawitharana, Missaka, 2013. "Capital ratios and bank lending: A matched bank approach," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 663-687.
    3. Elizabeth Laderman & Carolina Reid, 2010. "The Community Reinvestment Act and small business lending in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods during the financial crisis," Community Development Working Paper 2010-05, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    4. Meghana Ayyagari & Yuxi Cheng & Ariel Weinberger, 2022. "Surviving Pandemics: The Role of Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 9891, CESifo.
    5. Adams, Robert M. & Brevoort, Kenneth P. & Driscoll, John C., 2023. "Is lending distance really changing? Distance dynamics and loan composition in small business lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Luck, Stephan & Zimmermann, Tom, 2020. "Employment effects of unconventional monetary policy: Evidence from QE," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 678-703.
    7. Stumpner, Sebastian, 2019. "Trade and the geographic spread of the great recession," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 169-180.
    8. Zarutskie, Rebecca, 2013. "Competition, financial innovation and commercial bank loan portfolios," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 373-396.
    9. Hollander, Stephan & Verriest, Arnt, 2016. "Bridging the gap: the design of bank loan contracts and distance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 399-419.

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    Keywords

    small business finance; Banks and banking;

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