Creditor protection, information sharing and credit for small and medium-sized enterprises: cross-country evidence

Abstract

Using World Business Environment Survey results for firms in 61 countries, together with country dummies that allow us to deal with observed and unobserved country-specific components, as well as with partial endogeneity, we explore the roles played by creditor protection (e.g. the enforcement of credit contracts) and by the development of credit information mechanisms, such as credit registries, in determining the availability of bank credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We find that better creditor protection and the development of information-sharing mechanisms narrow the financing gap between small and large firms. Countries with poor creditor protection can offset this shortcoming by implementing credit information mechanisms.