Intrametropolitan patterns of small-business lending: what do the new community reinvestment act data reveal?
- 1999
- p.787-804
- Jul
Discrimination and redlining in business lending have been cited as contributing to economic decline in lower-income neighborhoods. Until recently, bank regulators have not collected geographic data on business loans. Using new data collected by regulators, the author measures small-business lending flows to different types of neighbourhoods in the Chicago metropolitan area. Although data limitations preclude a definitive finding of differential access to credit, lower-income and minority neighborhoods areas receive fewer loans after accounting for firm density, firm size, and industrial mix, findings that support the notion of geographic and/or race-based discrimination in marketing or approving loans. - Reproduced