Information Technology and Credit: Evidence from Public Guarantees

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Core, Fabrizio; De Marco, Filippo
• 署名单位: Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Bocconi University; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.4957
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 6202-6219
• 关键词: public guarantees; Covid-19; small business credit; information technology; branch presence

摘要

This paper investigates whether banks' information technology (IT) can substitute for local branch presence in the provision of small business credit. Our identification strategy relies on loan-level data and the unique institutional features of the Italian public guarantee scheme during COVID-19. Despite the availability of online applications and low screening incentives, small business lending remains local even for first-time borrowers. However, IT partly mitigates the impact of local branch presence: banks with better IT provide more, cheaper, and faster guaranteed loans and lend more in areas where they have no bank branches, especially to first-time borrowers.