IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/17345.html

Supporting small firms through recessions and recoveries

Author

Listed:
  • Bonfim, Diana
  • Custodio, Claudia
  • Raposo, Clara

Abstract

We use variation in the access to a government credit certification program to estimate the financial and real effects of supporting small firms. This program has been implemented during the global financial crisis, but has remained active ever since, allowing us to analyze its effects both during recessions and recoveries. Eligible firms have access to government loan guarantees and a credit quality certification. We estimate real effects using a multidimensional regression discontinuity design. We find that eligible firms borrow more and at lower rates than non-eligible firms, allowing them to increase investment and employment during crises. Industry-level analysis shows reduced productivity heterogeneity in more exposed industries, which is consistent with improved credit allocation. However, when the economy is recovering the effects of the program are less pronounced and centered on the certification component.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonfim, Diana & Custodio, Claudia & Raposo, Clara, 2022. "Supporting small firms through recessions and recoveries," CEPR Discussion Papers 17345, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17345
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP17345
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Simone Boccaletti & Annalisa Ferrando & Emanuele Rossi & Monica Rossolini, 2025. "European SMEs’ growth: the role of market-based finance and public financial support," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(2), pages 691-727, February.
    3. Bellucci, Andrea & Pennacchio, Luca & Zazzaro, Alberto, 2023. "Debt financing of SMEs: The certification role of R&D Subsidies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Anita Lovas & Edina Berlinger & Fanni Tóth, 2025. "Social Enterprise Under Moral Hazard: Who Gets State Subsidies and Active Financing?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 37(1), pages 55-78, February.
    5. Jin, Shaorong & Xiong, Ruoyu & Peng, Huan & Tang, Shiyu, 2025. "ESG performance and private enterprise resilience: Evidence from Chinese financial markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Huneeus, Federico & Kaboski, Joseph P. & Larrain, Mauricio & Schmukler, Sergio & Vera, Mario, 2024. "Crisis Credit, Employment Protection, Indebtedness, and Risk," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10958, The World Bank.
    7. Ting Feng & Zhongyi Xue, 2023. "The impact of government subsidies on corporate resilience: evidence from the COVID-19 shock," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4199-4221, December.
    8. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque, 2024. "The Credit Channel of Public Procurement," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(S).
    9. Tomelleri, Alessio & Billé, Anna Gloria, 2025. "Spatial interactions and micro-enterprises’ uptake of COVID-19 financial aid: Evidence from a spatial hurdle probit model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    10. van der Geest, Jesse, 2024. "Economic effects of tax avoidance and compliance," Other publications TiSEM aaca33bf-975d-4e21-9b5f-5, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Timothy E. Dore & Tetsuji Okazaki & Ken Onishi & Naoki Wakamori, 2025. "Firm growth and financial constraints: evidence from a policy-based loan program," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 131-162, June.
    12. Tsuruta, Daisuke, 2024. "Bank credit to SMEs in Japan: Evidence from normal times, the global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 crisis," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    13. De Lorenzo Buratta, Ivan & Pinheiro, Tiago, 2025. "Sovereign loan guarantees and financial stability," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    14. Martins, Ana & Pereira dos Santos, João & Pozzobon, Fernando, 2025. "Sailing Through Troubled Waters: Evidence from Support Discontinuities to Firms in Times of Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 18136, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Chuanzhen Li & Liang Zhao & Yiwen Zhang, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and cash dividend policy: evidence from China," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.
    16. Ana Martins & João Pereira dos Santos & Fernando Pozzobon, 2025. "Sailing through Troubled Waters: Evidence from the APOIAR Program," GEE Papers 190, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised May 2025.
    17. Fera, Pietro & Meles, Antonio & Moscariello, Nicola & Pellegrino, Luigi Raffaele & Ricciardi, Giorgio, 2025. "Unlocking financing opportunities: The impact of the ELITE Program on SMEs’ Financing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Tomohito HONDA & Kaoru HOSONO & Daisuke MIYAKAWA & Arito ONO & Iichiro UESUGI, 2024. "Imperfect Take-up of COVID-19 Business Support Programs," Discussion papers 24001, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    19. Lanouar Charfeddine & Mohamed Ismail Umlai & Mazen El-Masri, 2024. "Impact of financial literacy, perceived access to finance, ICT use, and digitization on credit constraints: evidence from Qatari MSME importers," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-37, December.
    20. Edoardo Briganti & Holt Dwyer & Ricardo Duque Gabriel & Victor Sellemi, 2025. "Breaking Down the US Employment Multiplier Using Micro-Level Data," Staff Working Papers 25-8, Bank of Canada.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:cpr:ceprdp:17345. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.