IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jebusi/v115y2021ics0148619520304136.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Did the small business administration’s COVID-19 assistance go to the hard hit firms and bring the desired relief?

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Meng

Abstract

The paper uses newly released Small Business Pulse Survey data on small business’ response to questions about overall COVID-19 impact, federal aid request, federal aid receipt, and subsequent changes in revenue and employee hours to evaluate the efficacy of three federal aid programs: Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), and Small Business Administration (SBA) loan forgiveness programs. The paper finds no evidence that the severity of COVID-19 impact is related to the application and approval rate of any of the SBA assistance programs, implying that the relief funds did not reach the firms that need the liquidity injection the most. But the firms that did receive the relief funds were less likely to report revenue decrease and employee hours decline during the subsequent weeks. This result provides preliminary support to the social insurance value of the relief programs in boosting small businesses’ economic activities during the COVID-19 crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Meng, 2021. "Did the small business administration’s COVID-19 assistance go to the hard hit firms and bring the desired relief?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jebusi:v:115:y:2021:i:c:s0148619520304136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconbus.2020.105969
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148619520304136
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeconbus.2020.105969?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Eric Humphries & Christopher Neilson & Gabriel Ulyssea, 2020. "The evolving impacts of COVID-19 on small businesses since the CARES Act," Working Papers 2020-48, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    2. Granja, João & Makridis, Christos & Yannelis, Constantine & Zwick, Eric, 2022. "Did the paycheck protection program hit the target?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 725-761.
    3. John Eric Humphries & Christopher Neilson & Gabriel Ulyssea, 2020. "The evolving impacts of COVID-19 on small businesses since the CARES Act," Working Papers 2020-48, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    4. Alexander W. Bartik & Marianne Bertrand & Zoe Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher Stanton, 2020. "The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(30), pages 17656-17666, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Staples, Aaron J. & Krumel, Thomas P. Jr., 2022. "The Paycheck Protection Program & Small Business Performance: Evidence from Craft Breweries," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322484, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Aaron J. Staples & Thomas P. Krumel, 2023. "The Paycheck Protection Program and small business performance: Evidence from craft breweries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 931-956, October.
    3. Staples, Aaron J. & Deming, Kristopher & Malone, Trey & Carpenter, Craig W. & Weiler, Stephan, 2024. "Pouring the Paycheck Protection Program into craft beer: PPP employment effects in service-intensive industries," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lei Li & Philip E. Strahan & Song Zhang, 2020. "Banks as Lenders of First Resort: Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis," NBER Working Papers 27256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Robert P. Bartlett III & Adair Morse, 2020. "Small Business Survival Capabilities and Policy Effectiveness: Evidence from Oakland," NBER Working Papers 27629, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Anna Cororaton & Samuel Rosen, 2021. "Public Firm Borrowers of the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program [The risk of being a fallen angel and the corporate dash for cash in the midst of COVID]," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 641-693.
    4. Magdalena Olczyk & Marta Ewa Kuc-Czarnecka, 2021. "Determinants of COVID-19 Impact on the Private Sector: A Multi-Country Analysis Based on Survey Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Victor Chidubem Iwuoha & Ernest Toochi Aniche & Charles Arinze Obiora & Uchenna T. Umeifekwem, 2021. "Citizens lack access to healthcare facilities: How COVID‐19 lockdown and social distancing policies boost roadside chemist businesses in South‐Eastern Nigeria," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(6), pages 2411-2423, November.
    6. Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Olan, Femi & Nyuur, Richard Benon-be-isan & Paul, Salima & Nguyen, Ha Thanh Truc, 2023. "The effect of government support on Bureaucracy, COVID-19 resilience and export intensity: Evidence from North Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Cirera,Xavier & Comin,Diego Adolfo & Vargas Da Cruz,Marcio Jose & Lee,Kyungmin & Torres Coronado,Jesica, 2022. "Technology and Resilience," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9949, The World Bank.
    8. John Gallemore & Stephan Hollander & Martin Jacob, 2020. "Who CARES? Evidence on the Corporate Tax Provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act from SEC Filings," Working Papers 2020-81, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    9. Selim Raihan & FNU Jonaed & Md. Tuhin Ahmed, 2024. "Impact of Stimulus Packages on Business Recovery During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 19(2), pages 169-198, August.
    10. Iva Gregurec & Martina Tomičić Furjan & Katarina Tomičić-Pupek, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 on Sustainable Business Models in SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    11. Allen, Kyle D. & Whitledge, Matthew D., 2022. "Further evidence on the effectiveness of community banks in the Paycheck Protection Program," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    12. Alejandro Fernández-Cerezo & Beatriz Gonzalez & Mario Izquierdo Peinado & Enrique Moral-Benito, 2023. "Firm-level heterogeneity in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(42), pages 4946-4974, September.
    13. Grover,Arti Goswami & Pereira Lopez,Mariana De La Paz, 2023. "Do Shocks Perpetuate Disparities within and across Informal Firms ? Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10579, The World Bank.
    14. Autor, David & Cho, David & Crane, Leland D. & Goldar, Mita & Lutz, Byron & Montes, Joshua & Peterman, William B. & Ratner, David & Villar, Daniel & Yildirmaz, Ahu, 2022. "An evaluation of the Paycheck Protection Program using administrative payroll microdata," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    15. Laura Alfaro & Oscar Becerra & Marcela Eslava, 2020. "EMEs and COVID-19: Shutting Down in a World of Informal and Tiny Firms," NBER Working Papers 27360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Bennedsen, Morten & Larsen, Birthe & Schmutte, Ian M. & Scur, Daniela, 2023. "The effect of preserving job matches during a crisis," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Kawaguchi, Kohei & Kodama, Naomi & Tanaka, Mari, 2021. "Small business under the COVID-19 crisis: Expected short- and medium-run effects of anti-contagion and economic policies," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Chen, Joy & Cheng, Zijun & Gong, Robin Kaiji & Li, Jinlin, 2022. "Riding out the COVID-19 storm: How government policies affect SMEs in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Laura Alfaro & Oscar Becerra & Marcela Eslava, 2020. "EMEs and COVID-19 Shutting Down in a World of Informal and Tiny Firms Laura Alfaro, Oscar Becerra y Marcela Eslava," Documentos CEDE 18193, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    20. Bo Xu & Jingjing Li & Yujun Wu, 2024. "External shock, stimulus policy and economic resilience of small and micro businesses: evidence from COVID-19 pandemic in China," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 585-613, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Paycheck Protection Program; Economic Injury Disaster Loan; SBA loan forgiveness; COVID;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H8 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jebusi:v:115:y:2021:i:c:s0148619520304136. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economics-and-business .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.