Evaluating the Impact of Public Programs of Financial Aid to SMEs during times of crisis: The Spanish Experience

The aim of this paper is to study the differential effects of the public programs that provide financial aid to small and medium enterprises during times of crisis in Spain. We use different methods to control for potential selection bias. Our results show that the effects of these programs are stronger during times of crisis: during normal periods, these programs impact assets, sales, efficiency, and productivity growth, whereas during recessions, their effects extend to employment growth.