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Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis Vol. 56 No. 7 2021

Who Supplies PPP Loans (and Does It Matter)? Banks, Relationships, and the COVID Crisis

Lei Li1; Philip E. Strahan2

1 Federal Reserve Board of Governors · 2 National Bureau of Economic Research

Abstract

We analyze the bank supply of credit under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The literature emphasizes relationships as a means to improve lender information, which helps banks manage credit risk. Despite imposing no risk, however, the PPP supply reflects traditional measures of relationship lending: decreasing in bank size and increasing in prior experience, commitment lending, and core deposits. Our results suggest a new benefit of bank relationships: They help firms access government-subsidized lending. Consistent with this benefit, we show that the bank PPP supply, based on the structure of the local banking sector, alleviates increases in unemployment.

DOI
10.1017/s0022109021000405
Volume
56
Issue
7
Pages
2411-2438
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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