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Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program

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  • Sergey Chernenko
  • David S. Scharfstein

Abstract

Using a large sample of Florida restaurants, we document significant racial disparities in borrowing through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and investigate the causes of these disparities. Black-owned restaurants are 25% less likely to receive PPP loans. Restaurant location explains 5 percentage points of this differential. Restaurant characteristics explain an additional 10 percentage points of the gap in PPP borrowing. On average, prior borrowing relationships do not explain disparities. The remaining 10% disparity is driven by a 17% disparity in PPP borrowing from banks, which is partially offset by greater borrowing from nonbanks, largely fintechs. Disparities in PPP borrowing cannot be attributed to lower awareness of PPP loans or lower demand for PPP loans by minority-owned restaurants. Black-owned restaurants are significantly less likely to receive bank PPP loans in counties with more racial bias. In these counties, Black-owned restaurants are more likely to substitute to nonbank PPP loans. This substitution, however, is not strong enough to eliminate racial disparities in PPP borrowing. Finally, we show that our findings apply more broadly across industries in a sample of firms that were likely eligible for PPP.

Suggested Citation

  • Sergey Chernenko & David S. Scharfstein, 2022. "Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program," NBER Working Papers 29748, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29748
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ströbel, Johannes & Howell, Sabrina & Kuchler, Theresa & Snitkof, David, 2021. "Racial Disparities in Access to Small Business Credit: Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," CEPR Discussion Papers 16623, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Dylan Glover & Amanda Pallais & William Pariente, 2017. "Discrimination as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Evidence from French Grocery Stores," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 132(3), pages 1219-1260.
    3. Erel, Isil & Liebersohn, Jack, 2020. "Does FinTech Substitute for Banks? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," Working Paper Series 2020-16, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    4. 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.
    5. Ken Cavalluzzo & John Wolken, 2005. "Small Business Loan Turndowns, Personal Wealth, and Discrimination," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(6), pages 2153-2178, November.
    6. Isil Erel & Jack Liebersohn, 2020. "Does FinTech Substitute for Banks? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," NBER Working Papers 27659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Peter Ganong & Damon Jones & Pascal J. Noel & Fiona E. Greig & Diana Farrell & Chris Wheat, 2020. "Wealth, Race, and Consumption Smoothing of Typical Income Shocks," NBER Working Papers 27552, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Blanchard, Lloyd & Zhao, Bo & Yinger, John, 2008. "Do lenders discriminate against minority and woman entrepreneurs?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 467-497, March.
    9. Robert Fairlie & Alicia Robb & David T. Robinson, 2022. "Black and White: Access to Capital Among Minority-Owned Start-ups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2377-2400, April.
    10. David G. Blanchflower & Phillip B. Levine & David J. Zimmerman, 2003. "Discrimination in the Small-Business Credit Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 930-943, November.
    11. Alexander W. Bartik & Zoe B. Cullen & Edward L. Glaeser & Michael Luca & Christopher T. Stanton & Adi Sunderam, 2020. "When Should Public Programs be Privately Administered? Theory and Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program," NBER Working Papers 27623, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Li, Lei & Strahan, Philip E., 2021. "Who Supplies PPP Loans (and Does It Matter)? Banks, Relationships, and the COVID Crisis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(7), pages 2411-2438, November.
    13. Manasa Gopal, 2021. "How Collateral Affects Small Business Lending: The Role of Lender Specialization," Working Papers 21-22, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Brandon Goldstein & Julapa Jagtiani & Catharine Lemieux, 2023. "Did Fintech Loans Default More During the COVID-19 Pandemic? Were Fintech Firms “Cream-Skimming” the Best Borrowers?," Working Papers 23-26, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    2. Sergey V. Chernenko & Nathan Kaplan & Asani Sarkar & David Scharfstein, 2023. "Applications or Approvals: What Drives Racial Disparities in the Paycheck Protection Program?," Staff Reports 1060, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    3. Lopez, Jose A. & Spiegel, Mark M., 2023. "Small business lending under the PPP and PPPLF programs," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Ashok K. Mishra & Gianna Short & Charles B. Dodson, 2024. "Racial disparities in farm loan application processing: Are Black farmers disadvantaged?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 111-136, March.
    5. Sant'Anna, Ana Claudia, 2023. "Examining the Relationship Between Women, Minority Farmers, and Diversity in the Leadership of Farm Credit Institutions," 97th Annual Conference, March 27-29, 2023, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 334564, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    6. David P. Glancy, 2023. "Bank Relationships and the Geography of PPP Lending," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2023-014, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. John M. Griffin & Samuel Kruger & Prateek Mahajan, 2023. "Did FinTech Lenders Facilitate PPP Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 78(3), pages 1777-1827, June.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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