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on Entrepreneurship |
| By: | Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Mihaescu, Oana (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)); Rudholm, Niklas (Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut)) |
| Abstract: | : Business improvement districts (BIDs) have emerged as possible solutions for the revitalization of urban areas characterized by economic decline. Using a difference-in differences model, we investigate the effects of a voluntary Swedish BID programme in five cities on firm performance, urban safety, and place attractiveness – both within and outside the BID. We find that the BID programme increased labour productivity for incumbent firms within the BID by 7.62%, mainly through an increase in revenues. However, the positive effect of the BID programme on firm performance is largely transitory, decreasing sharply during the third year and then becoming insignificant. We find no statistically significant impacts on firm performance outside the geographical boundaries of the BIDs. The results also suggest that fewer crimes were committed in the BIDs, as the estimates for all years are negative, though they are significant only for the fourth year after BID implementation. Finally, we detect no statistically significant effects of the BID programme on property values either within or outside the designated BIDs. |
| Keywords: | : Business improvement district; public–private partnerships; firm performance; labour productivity; property values; crime; difference-in-differences |
| JEL: | H44 L11 L25 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2021–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hfiwps:0024&r= |
| By: | Sabrina T. Howell; Theresa Kuchler; David Snitkof; Johannes Stroebel; Jun Wong |
| Abstract: | We explore the sources of racial disparities in small business lending by studying the $806 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was designed to support small business jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. PPP loans were administered by private lenders but federally guaranteed, largely eliminating unobservable credit risk as a factor in explaining differential lending by race. We document that even after controlling for a firm’s zip code, industry, loan size, PPP approval date, and other characteristics, Black-owned businesses were 12.1 percentage points (70% of the mean) more likely to obtain their PPP loan from a fintech lender than a traditional bank. Among conventional lenders, smaller banks were much less likely to lend to Black-owned firms, while the Top-4 banks exhibited little to no disparity after including controls. We use novel data to show that the disparity is not primarily explained by differences in pre-existing bank or credit relationships, firm financial positions, fintech affinity, or borrower application behavior. In contrast, we document that Black-owned businesses’ higher rate of borrowing from fintechs compared to smaller banks is particularly large in places with high racial animus, pointing to a potential role for discrimination in explaining some of the racial disparities in small business lending. We find evidence that when small banks automate their lending processes, and thus reduce human involvement in the loan origination process, their rate of PPP lending to Black-owned businesses increases, with larger effects in places with more racial animus. |
| JEL: | G21 G23 G28 G41 J15 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9345&r= |
| By: | Sebastian Doerr; Magdalena Erdem; Guido Franco; Leonardo Gambacorta; Anamaria Illes |
| Abstract: | Can higher technological capacity help firms to recover quicker from recessions? Analyzing the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on firm revenues in several countries, we find that firms headquartered in jurisdictions with better digital infrastructure generated relatively higher revenue during the shock period. Improving a country's technological capability by one standard deviation is associated with a relative increase in revenues of the average firm by around 4%. The positive effect of technology is more pronounced among smaller firms, suggesting that it could have helped the recovery of SMEs. |
| JEL: | E23 G10 G38 O30 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:965&r= |