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Are Small Businesses Worthy of Financial Aid? Evidence from a French Targeted Credit Program

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  • Laurent Bach

Abstract

We ask whether public financial aid reduces small businesses’ credit constraints. To answer the question, we analyze a policy of bank loans made from subsidized funds. Extensions of this large program are plausibly exogenous and help identify its effects. Using firm-level data, we find that the program substantially increases debt financing without substitution between subsidized and unsubsidized finance. Returns on subsidized debt are significantly above its market cost, with no subsequent surge in default risk. We interpret this as evidence that targeted firms are credit-constrained and underline the implied welfare differences between upfront financial aid and public guarantees.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurent Bach, 2014. "Are Small Businesses Worthy of Financial Aid? Evidence from a French Targeted Credit Program," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(3), pages 877-919.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:18:y:2014:i:3:p:877-919.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rof/rft022
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    Cited by:

    1. Falavigna, Greta & Ippoliti, Roberto, 2023. "SMEs’ behavior under financial constraints: An empirical investigation on the legal environment and the substitution effect with tax arrears," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Cozarenco, Anastasia & Szafarz, Ariane, 2020. "The regulation of prosocial lending: Are loan ceilings effective?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Brown, James R. & Martinsson, Gustav & Thomann, Christian, 2021. "Government lending in a crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Deborah Lucas, 2016. "Credit Policy as Fiscal Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 47(1 (Spring), pages 1-57.
    5. Maurizio Conti & Leandro Elia & Antonella Rita Ferrara & Massimiliano Ferraresi, 2020. "Government late payments and firms survival. Evidence from the EU," Working papers 87, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    6. Gabriel Jiménez & José-Luis Peydró & Rafael Repullo & Jesús Saurina, 2017. "Burning Money? Government Lending in a Credit Crunch," Working Papers 984, Barcelona School of Economics.
    7. Bonfim, Diana & Custódio, Cláudia & Raposo, Clara, 2023. "Supporting small firms through recessions and recoveries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 658-688.
    8. Tim E. DORE & OKAZAKI Tetsuji & ONISHI Ken & WAKAMORI Naoki, 2020. "Firm Growth, Financial Constraints, and Policy-Based Finance," Discussion papers 20082, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. Diana Bonfim & Cláudia Custódio, 2021. "The sensitivity of SME’s investment and employment to the cost of debt financing," Working Papers w202115, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    10. Daniel Grimaldi & Jose Renato Haas Ornelas, 2024. "Do Firms Need Cheaper Credit to Grow? investigating the effectiveness of subsidized earmarked loans," Working Papers Series 599, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    11. James R. Brown & Gustav Martinsson & Christian Thomann, 2015. "What if Firms Could Borrow More? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 5458, CESifo.
    12. Bellon, Aymeric & Harpedanne de Belleville, Louis-Marie & Pinardon-Touati, Noémie, 2021. "Mediating Financial Intermediation," MPRA Paper 108339, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Kim, Mee Jung & Lee, Kyung Min & Brown, J. David & Earle, John S., 2021. "Black Entrepreneurs, Job Creation, and Financial Constraints," IZA Discussion Papers 14403, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Microcredit in Industrialized Countries: Unexpected Consequences of Regulatory Loan Ceilings," Working Papers CEB 16-021, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    15. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2017. "Finance and Growth at the Firm Level: Evidence from SBA Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(3), pages 1039-1080, June.
    16. Sangyeon Hwang & Hyejoon Im, 2017. "International Trade Finance and Exports: Evidence from Korean Bank-Intermediated Trade Finance Instruments," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 319-346, April.
    17. Vladimir Atanasov & Bernard Black, 2021. "The Trouble with Instruments: The Need for Pretreatment Balance in Shock-Based Instrumental Variable Designs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1270-1302, February.
    18. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Ho, Shan-Ju, 2022. "Financial aid and financial inclusion: Does risk uncertainty matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    19. Thorsten Beck, 2014. "Ireland's Banking System - Looking Forward," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 45(1), pages 113-134.
    20. Xiaowei Kong & Deng-Kui Si & Haiyang Li & Dongmin Kong, 2021. "Does access to credit reduce SMEs’ tax avoidance? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.
    21. Arrieta-Paredes, Mary-Paz & Hallsworth, Alan G. & Coca-Stefaniak, J. Andres, 2020. "Small shop survival – The financial response to a global financial crisis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    22. Alessio D’Ignazio & Carlo Menon, 2020. "Causal Effect of Credit Guarantees for Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Evidence from Italy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(1), pages 191-218, January.
    23. Dvouletý Ondřej & Čadil Jan & Mirošník Karel, 2019. "Do Firms Supported by Credit Guarantee Schemes Report Better Financial Results 2 Years After the End of Intervention?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-20, January.
    24. Gonzalez-Uribe, Juanita & Wang, Su, 2020. "The effects of small-firm loan guarantees in the UK: insights for the COVID-19 pandemic crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118916, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    25. Yang, Jingwen & Gong, Qingbin & Sendra García, Javier & Xu, Bing, 2022. "Non-parametric identification of public guarantee schemes and commercial banks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1196-1206.

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