IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v47y2016i4d10.1007_s11187-016-9745-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

UK credit and discouragement during the GFC

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Cowling

    (University of Brighton Business School)

  • Weixi Liu

    (University of Bath School of Management)

  • Maria Minniti

    (Syracuse University Whitman School of Management)

  • Ning Zhang

    (Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University)

Abstract

The availability of credit to entrepreneurs with good investment opportunities is an important facilitator of economic growth. Under normal economic conditions, most entrepreneurs who requested loans receive them. In a global financial crisis, popular opinion is that banks are severely restricting lending to smaller businesses. This assumes that low levels of investment are caused by supply-side restrictions in the credit market. Little is said about potential changes in the demand for credit and how it is influenced by entrepreneurs’ perceptions about supply-side restrictions. One particularly interesting, and under-researched, group of small businesses is that who have potentially good investment opportunities, but are discouraged from applying for external funding as they fear rejection. In this study, we question whether these entrepreneurs were correct in their assumptions. We find that levels of discouragement are quite low in general at 2.7 % of the total smaller business population. Further analysis implies that 55.6 % of discouraged borrowers would have got loans had they applied.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc Cowling & Weixi Liu & Maria Minniti & Ning Zhang, 2016. "UK credit and discouragement during the GFC," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1049-1074, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:47:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-016-9745-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-016-9745-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-016-9745-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-016-9745-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lown, Cara & Morgan, Donald P., 2006. "The Credit Cycle and the Business Cycle: New Findings Using the Loan Officer Opinion Survey," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(6), pages 1575-1597, September.
    2. Sara Carter & Eleanor Shaw & Wing Lam & Fiona Wilson, 2007. "Gender, Entrepreneurship, and Bank Lending: The Criteria and Processes Used by Bank Loan Officers in Assessing Applications," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(3), pages 427-444, May.
    3. Cowling, Marc, 2010. "The role of loan guarantee schemes in alleviating credit rationing in the UK," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 36-44, April.
    4. Han, Liang & Fraser, Stuart & Storey, David J., 2009. "Are good or bad borrowers discouraged from applying for loans? Evidence from US small business credit markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 415-424, February.
    5. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    6. Andy Cosh & Douglas Cumming & Alan Hughes, 2009. "Outside Enterpreneurial Capital," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(540), pages 1494-1533, October.
    7. Hanousek, Jan & Filer, Randall K., 2004. "Investment, credit rationing, and the soft budget constraint: what would a well-functioning credit market look like?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 385-390, March.
    8. Giuseppe Coco, 2000. "On the Use of Collateral," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 191-214, April.
    9. Ari Hyytinen & Mika Pajarinen, 2007. "Is The Cost Of Debt Capital Higher For Younger Firms?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 54(1), pages 55-71, February.
    10. de Meza, David & Southey, Clive, 1996. "The Borrower's Curse: Optimism, Finance and Entrepreneurship," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 375-386, March.
    11. Zoltan Acs & David Storey, 2004. "Introduction: Entrepreneurship and Economic Development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 871-877.
    12. Chakravarty, Sugato & Xiang, Meifang, 2013. "The international evidence on discouraged small businesses," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 63-82.
    13. Maria Psillaki & Nikolaos Daskalakis, 2009. "Are the determinants of capital structure country or firm specific?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 319-333, October.
    14. Barbara J. Orser & Allan L. Riding & Kathryn Manley, 2006. "Women Entrepreneurs and Financial Capital," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 643-665, September.
    15. Robert W. Fairlie & Alicia M. Robb, 2007. "Why Are Black-Owned Businesses Less Successful than White-Owned Businesses? The Role of Families, Inheritances, and Business Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 289-323.
    16. Ken S. Cavalluzzo, 2002. "Competition, Small Business Financing, and Discrimination: Evidence from a New Survey," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 641-680, October.
    17. Sylvie Cieply & Marcus Dejardin, 2010. "Entrepreneur finance in France : the persistent role of banks," Post-Print halshs-00556634, HAL.
    18. Cowling, Marc & Mitchell, Peter, 2003. "Is the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme Hazardous for Banks or Helpful to Small Business?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 63-71, August.
    19. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    20. Kon, Y & Storey, D J, 2003. "A Theory of Discouraged Borrowers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-49, August.
    21. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    22. Rebel A. Cole, 2013. "What Do We Know about the Capital Structure of Privately Held US Firms? Evidence from the Surveys of Small Business Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(4), pages 777-813, December.
    23. Luca Grilli & Samuele Murtinu, 2015. "New technology-based firms in Europe: market penetration, public venture capital, and timing of investment," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 24(5), pages 1109-1148.
    24. Gelos, R. Gaston & Werner, Alejandro M., 2002. "Financial liberalization, credit constraints, and collateral: investment in the Mexican manufacturing sector," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-27, February.
    25. Thakor, Anjan V, 1989. "Competitive Equilibrium with Type Convergence in an Asymmetrically Informed Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 2(1), pages 49-71.
    26. Cassar, Gavin, 2004. "The financing of business start-ups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 261-283, March.
    27. Marc Cowling, 1999. "The incidence of loan collateralization in small business lending contracts: evidence from the UK," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(5), pages 291-293.
    28. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    29. Michaelas, Nicos & Chittenden, Francis & Poutziouris, Panikkos, 1999. "Financial Policy and Capital Structure Choice in U.K. SMEs: Empirical Evidence from Company Panel Data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 113-130, March.
    30. Massimo Colombo & Annalisa Croce & Samuele Murtinu, 2014. "Ownership structure, horizontal agency costs and the performance of high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 265-282, February.
    31. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1983. "Incentive Effects of Terminations: Applications to the Credit and Labor Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 912-927, December.
    32. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2931-2943, November.
    33. Shen, Chung-Hua, 2002. "Credit Rationing for Bad Companies in Bad Years: Evidence from Bank Loan Transaction Data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(3), pages 261-278, July.
    34. Levenson, Alec R & Willard, Kristen L, 2000. "Do Firms Get the Financing They Want? Measuring Credit Rationing Experienced by Small Business in the U.S," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 83-94, March.
    35. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "On growth drivers of high-tech start-ups: Exploring the role of founders' human capital and venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 610-626, November.
    36. Andrea Mina & Henry Lahr & Alan Hughes, 2013. "The demand and supply of external finance for innovative firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(4), pages 869-901, August.
    37. Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2012. "Financing technology-based small firms in Europe: what do we know?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 179-205, July.
    38. Mariana Mazzucato, 2013. "Financing innovation: creative destruction vs. destructive creation," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(4), pages 851-867, August.
    39. Mark Freel & Sara Carter & Stephen Tagg & Colin Mason, 2012. "The latent demand for bank debt: characterizing “discouraged borrowers”," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 399-418, May.
    40. Coad, Alex & Rao, Rekha, 2008. "Innovation and firm growth in high-tech sectors: A quantile regression approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 633-648, May.
    41. Cole, Rebel & Sokolyk, Tatyana, 2016. "Who needs credit and who gets credit? Evidence from the surveys of small business finances," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 40-60.
    42. Van de Ven, Wynand P. M. M. & Van Praag, Bernard M. S., 1981. "The demand for deductibles in private health insurance : A probit model with sample selection," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 229-252, November.
    43. Blinder, Alan S, 1987. "Credit Rationing and Effective Supply Failures," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(386), pages 327-352, June.
    44. Maurizio La Rocca & Tiziana La Rocca & Alfio Cariola, 2011. "Capital Structure Decisions During a Firm's Life Cycle," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 107-130, July.
    45. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    46. Tom Vanacker & Sophie Manigart, 2010. "Pecking order and debt capacity considerations for high-growth companies seeking financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 53-69, July.
    47. Cragg, John G. & Donald, Stephen G., 1993. "Testing Identifiability and Specification in Instrumental Variable Models," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(2), pages 222-240, April.
    48. Veronique Vermoesen & Marc Deloof & Eddy Laveren, 2013. "Long-term debt maturity and financing constraints of SMEs during the Global Financial Crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 433-448, August.
    49. Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2014. "Government, venture capital and the growth of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1523-1543.
    50. Massimo Colombo & Luca Grilli, 2007. "Funding Gaps? Access To Bank Loans By High-Tech Start-Ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 25-46, June.
    51. Guilhem Bascle, 2008. "Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables in strategic management research," Post-Print hal-00576795, HAL.
    52. de Bettignies, Jean-Etienne & Brander, James A., 2007. "Financing entrepreneurship: Bank finance versus venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 808-832, November.
    53. Michael P. Murray, 2006. "Avoiding Invalid Instruments and Coping with Weak Instruments," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 111-132, Fall.
    54. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2011. "R&D subsidies and the performance of high-tech start-ups," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 97-99, July.
    55. Susan Marlow & Dean Patton, 2005. "All Credit to Men? Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Gender," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(6), pages 717-735, November.
    56. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    57. Chua, Jess H. & Chrisman, James J. & Kellermanns, Franz & Wu, Zhenyu, 2011. "Family involvement and new venture debt financing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 472-488, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ross Brown & José M. Liñares-Zegarra & John O.S. Wilson, 2022. "Innovation and borrower discouragement in SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1489-1517, December.
    2. Kallandranis, Christos & Anastasiou, Dimitrios & Drakos, Konstantinos, 2023. "Credit rationing prevalence for Eurozone firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Chala, Alemu Tulu & Forssbaeck, Jens, 2018. "Does Collateral Reduce Loan-Size Credit Rationing? Survey Evidence," Working Papers 2018:36, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    4. Cole, Rebel & Sokolyk, Tatyana, 2016. "Who needs credit and who gets credit? Evidence from the surveys of small business finances," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 40-60.
    5. Hang Thu Nguyen & Hiep Manh Nguyen & Michael Troege & Anh T. H. Nguyen, 2021. "Debt aversion, education, and credit self-rationing in SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1125-1143, October.
    6. Marc Cowling & Susan Marlow & Weixi Liu, 0. "Gender and bank lending after the global financial crisis: are women entrepreneurs safer bets?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-28.
    7. Marc Cowling & Susan Marlow & Weixi Liu, 2020. "Gender and bank lending after the global financial crisis: are women entrepreneurs safer bets?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 853-880, December.
    8. Marc Cowling & Weixi Liu & Raffaella Calabrese, 2022. "Has previous loan rejection scarred firms from applying for loans during Covid-19?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1327-1350, December.
    9. Gama, Ana Paula Matias & Duarte, Fábio Dias & Esperança, José Paulo, 2017. "Why discouraged borrowers exist? An empirical (re)examination from less developed countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 19-41.
    10. Giraudo, Emanuele & Giudici, Giancarlo & Grilli, Luca, 2019. "Entrepreneurship policy and the financing of young innovative companies: Evidence from the Italian Startup Act," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    11. Annie bellier & Wafa Sayeh & Stéphanie Serve, 2012. "What lies behind credit rationing? A survey of the literature," THEMA Working Papers 2012-39, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    12. Anoosheh Rostamkalaei & Miwako Nitani & Allan Riding, 2020. "Borrower discouragement: the role of informal turndowns," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 173-188, January.
    13. Chakravarty, Sugato & Xiang, Meifang, 2013. "The international evidence on discouraged small businesses," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 63-82.
    14. Osei-Tutu, Francis & Weill, Laurent, 2023. "Individualism reduces borrower discouragement," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 370-385.
    15. Riccardo Calcagno & Paolo Finaldi Russo & Ludovica Galotto & Anita Quas, 2024. "Financial literacy of micro-entrepreneurs and access to credit," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 853, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    16. Reto Wernli & Andreas Dietrich, 2022. "Only the brave: improving self-rationing efficiency among discouraged Swiss SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 977-1003, October.
    17. Lee, Neil & Sameen, Hiba & Cowling, Marc, 2015. "Access to finance for innovative SMEs since the financial crisis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 370-380.
    18. Walthoff-Borm, Xavier & Schwienbacher, Armin & Vanacker, Tom, 2018. "Equity crowdfunding: First resort or last resort?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 513-533.
    19. Bertrand, Jérémie & Mazza, Paolo, 2022. "Borrowers’ discouragement and creditor information," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    20. Naegels, Vanessa & Mori, Neema & D'Espallier, Bert, 2022. "The process of female borrower discouragement," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:47:y:2016:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-016-9745-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.