We present evidence that loan allocations and loan terms are closely linked to the strength of social connections between bank and borrower regions. Lending increases with social connectedness, particularly in the presence of strong screening incentives. If connectedness is high, banks discriminate between borrowers more, the terms of originated loans are more borrower friendly, and loan performance is better. Furthermore, social connectedness is associated with higher bank profitability and with lending-related increases in borrower-region GDP growth and employment. Our results suggest that lending barriers decrease with social connectedness, which helps our understanding of geographic lending patterns and regional economic disparities.

This article demonstrates that low bank capital carries a negative externality because it amplifies local shock spillovers. We exploit a natural disaster that is transmitted to firms in nondisaster areas via their banks. Firms connected to a strongly disaster-exposed bank with lowest-quartile capitalization significantly reduce their total borrowing by 6.6% and tangible assets by 6.9% compared to similar firms connected to a well-capitalized bank. These findings translate to negative regional effects on GDP and unemployment. Additionally, following a disaster event, banks reduce their exposure to currently unaffected but generally disaster-prone areas.

We show that local banks provide corporate recovery lending to firms affected by adverse regional macro shocks. Banks that reside in counties unaffected by the natural disaster that we specify as macro shock increase lending to firms inside affected counties by 3%. Firms domiciled in flooded counties, in turn, increase corporate borrowing by 16% if they are connected to banks in unaffected counties. We find no indication that recovery lending entails excessive risk-taking or rent-seeking. However, within the group of shock-exposed banks, those without access to geographically more diversified interbank markets exhibit more credit risk and less equity capital.