IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea26/404879.html

The Impact of Large Plant Openings and Community Banks on Small Business Development

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan, Alexander

Abstract

To assist policymakers and economic developers in measuring the effectiveness of using firm-specific incentives to attract large manufacturing investments and catalyze broader economic development, I study the role of access to community bank capital in catalyzing spillovers from large manufacturing plants to small business development. I construct a novel dataset of large manufacturing plant openings between 2010 and 2018 and estimate the impact of these openings on small business lending, creation, and expansion in the local economy, using difference-in-differences designs with multiple control groups. The results suggest that community banks drive post-opening increases in small business lending, which translates to higher growth rates in small business creation and expansion. Small businesses in complementary industries experience the largest growth, while small businesses that may compete for labor and other resources do not. These findings will inform policymakers evaluating which places will benefit from place-based policies and financial regulators monitoring the consolidation of the banking industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan, Alexander, 2026. "The Impact of Large Plant Openings and Community Banks on Small Business Development," 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri 404879, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea26:404879
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.404879
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/404879/files/CP-6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.404879?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Black, Lamont K., 2011. "Bank size, lending technologies, and small business finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 724-735, March.
    3. Nicholas Bloom & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lucia Foster & Ron Jarmin & Megha Patnaik & Itay Saporta-Eksten & John Van Reenen, 2019. "What Drives Differences in Management Practices?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(5), pages 1648-1683, May.
    4. Adams, Robert M. & Brevoort, Kenneth P. & Driscoll, John C., 2023. "Is lending distance really changing? Distance dynamics and loan composition in small business lending," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Kim, Hyunseob, 2020. "How does labor market size affect firm capital structure? Evidence from large plant openings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 277-294.
    6. David Neumark & Brandon Wall & Junfu Zhang, 2011. "Do Small Businesses Create More Jobs? New Evidence for the United States from the National Establishment Time Series," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 16-29, August.
    7. Coady Wing & Seth M. Freedman & Alex Hollingsworth, 2024. "Stacked Difference-in-Differences," NBER Working Papers 32054, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Paul S. Calem, 1994. "The impact of geographic deregulation on small banks," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Nov, pages 17-31.
    9. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner & David Scharfstein, 2005. "Entrepreneurial Spawning: Public Corporations and the Genesis of New Ventures, 1986 to 1999," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 577-614, April.
    10. Anil Rupasingha & Kyungsoon Wang, 2017. "Access to capital and small business growth: evidence from CRA loans data," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(1), pages 15-41, July.
    11. Cailin R. Slattery & Owen M. Zidar, 2020. "Evaluating State and Local Business Tax Incentives," NBER Working Papers 26603, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Carlianne Patrick, 2016. "Identifying The Local Economic Development Effects Of Million Dollar Facilities," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(4), pages 1737-1762, October.
    13. Michael Greenstone & Richard Hornbeck & Enrico Moretti, 2010. "Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 118(3), pages 536-598, June.
    14. Carlianne Patrick & Mark Partridge, 2022. "Agglomeration Spillovers and Persistence: New Evidence from Large Plant Openings," Working Papers 22-21, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    15. Cailin Slattery & Owen Zidar, 2020. "Evaluating State and Local Business Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 90-118, Spring.
    16. Ferdinando Monte & Stephen J. Redding & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2018. "Commuting, Migration, and Local Employment Elasticities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(12), pages 3855-3890, December.
    17. Hoai-Luu Q. Nguyen, 2019. "Are Credit Markets Still Local? Evidence from Bank Branch Closings," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 1-32, January.
    18. Berger, Allen N. & Udell, Gregory F., 2006. "A more complete conceptual framework for SME finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2945-2966, November.
    19. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    20. Cailin Slattery, 2025. "Bidding for Firms: Subsidy Competition in the United States," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(8), pages 2563-2614.
    21. Arnoud W. A. Boot & Anjan V. Thakor, 2000. "Can Relationship Banking Survive Competition?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 679-713, April.
    22. John Haltiwanger & Ron S. Jarmin & Javier Miranda, 2013. "Who Creates Jobs? Small versus Large versus Young," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 347-361, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gupta, Rahul R. & Rodriguez, Viviana, 2025. "Firms for funding: The effect of Million Dollar Plants on school finances and student achievement," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    2. Bhardwaj,Abhishek & Ghose,Devaki & Mukherjee,Saptarshi & Singh,Manpreet, 2022. "Million Dollar Plants and Retail Prices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9995, The World Bank.
    3. Akira, Yamaguchi, 2024. "The impact of news shock of the openings or expansions of large-scale semiconductor plants on local labour market in Japan," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Freedman, Matthew & Khanna, Shantanu & Neumark, David, 2023. "Combining rules and discretion in economic development policy: Evidence on the impacts of the California Competes Tax Credit," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    5. Li, Shigang & Peng, Fanjia & Wu, Binzhen & Yang, Longjian, 2025. "Closing the information gap: Tax data sharing and small business finance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 240(C).
    6. Cingano, Federico & Palomba, Filippo & Pinotti, Paolo & Rettore, Enrico, 2022. "Making Subsidies Work: Rules vs. Discretion," IZA Discussion Papers 15172, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Andrew Hanson & Shawn Rohlin, 2024. "Local employment multipliers for large publicly subsidized firms: Evidence from a synthetic control approach," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 491-526, March.
    8. Haffki, Ricarda & Mager, Ferdinand & Hennig, Kerstin, 2023. "Big is beautiful: The impact of bank–borrower relationship and sponsor size on credit spreads and underwriting fees in commercial real estate lending," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    9. Steven Poelhekke & Razvan Vlahu & Vadym Volosovych, 2021. "Corporate Acquisitions and Bank Relationships," Working Papers 726, DNB.
    10. Andrew Garin & Jonathan Rothbaum, 2025. "The Long-Run Impacts of Public Industrial Investment on Local Development and Economic Mobility: Evidence from World War II," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 140(1), pages 459-520.
    11. Kano, Masaji & Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Watanabe, Wako, 2011. "Information verifiability, bank organization, bank competition and bank-borrower relationships," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 935-954, April.
    12. Belloc, Filippo & Lofaro, Antonino, 2026. "Subsidies, new firms, and productivity in global manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    13. Robert M. Adams & Shane M. Sherlund, 2025. "Where's The Bank? Banking Access in the Era of Branch Consolidation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2025-086, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    14. Shusen Qi & Ralph De Haas & Steven Ongena & Stefan Straetmans & Tamas Vadasz, 2024. "Move a little closer? Information sharing and the spatial clustering of bank branches," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(6), pages 1881-1918.
    15. Kim, Taehyun & Lim, Yaeji, 2024. "Environmental spillovers and local agglomeration: Evidence from large plant openings," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    16. Baridhi Malakar, 2024. "Essays on Responsible and Sustainable Finance," Papers 2406.12995, arXiv.org.
    17. Adam Scavette, 2024. "Aerospace Place-Based Policy: The Impact of Boeing on South Carolina's Aerospace Industry," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 38(4), pages 302-315, November.
    18. Alexander, Diane & Richards, Michael R., 2023. "Economic consequences of hospital closures," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    19. Christos A. Makridis, 2026. "Bidding for the Cloud: Fiscal Competition and the Socialization of Infrastructure Costs," CESifo Working Paper Series 12894, CESifo.
    20. Song Zhang & Liang Han & Konstantinos Kallias & Antonios Kallias, 2021. "The value of in-person banking: evidence from U.S. small businesses," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1435, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ags:aaea26:404879. 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: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    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.