Basic Facts on the Coverage of the Paycheck Protection Program

RePEc Short ID: pgu781
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1456-2955

Guo, Angela; Schweitzer, Mark E.

doi:10.26509/frbc-wp-202324

Working Paper

Basic Facts on the Coverage of the Paycheck Protection Program

Abstract: This paper applies loan-level information from Paycheck Protection Program loans to analyze the coverage of this extraordinary lending program. We show that loans went to a large share of small businesses across most industries in the US, especially to industries that were most negatively impacted by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. We geocode the loans and then identify that 2021 loans were more concentrated in low- and moderate-income communities, along with census tracts where minority residents are a majority of the population. The growth of nonemployer loans and fintech lending in the program were key components of the broadened reach of the program.

Keywords: small business lending; credit access; fintech; discrimination;

JEL Classification: G21; L5; R3; J71;

https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-202324