strong position for local, cooperative banks facilitates access to bank financing, lowers financial costs and boosts … investment and growth for SMEs. Moreover, counties where cooperative banks hold a strong position are characterized by a quicker … pace of new firm creation. However, only local banking markets dominated by supra-local, foreign and domestic banks appear …

analysis. We show that more efficient banks spur regional growth while the typically used quantity measure of financial … interaction of more credit with efficient banks. …

variables play an important role in affecting banking efficiencies, and that banks tend to operate more efficiently in those …

adoption of IDD and higher for firms relocated to states with more competitive product markets. The results imply that banks …

We re-investigate the special role of local banks in shaping the financial constraints of small and medium … programs, we find that local banks remain privileged and, most importantly, difficult to replace lenders for SMEs. We show that … the deterioration of a SME's access to bank financing linked to local banks' corrective programs depends on the presence …