Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending
研究发现小企业与贷款机构的距离在增加、沟通更非人格化，这并非源于企业选址或银行合并，而是贷款机构生产率提升所致；远程企业不再必须是最高信用质量，表明信贷可及性提高，反映了金融部门的显著发展。
The distance between small firms and their lenders is increasing, and they are communicating in more impersonal ways. After documenting these systematic changes, we demonstrate they do not arise from small firms locating differently, consolidation in the banking industry, or biases in the sample. Instead, improvements in lender productivity appear to explain our findings. We also find distant firms no longer have to be the highest quality credits, indicating they have greater access to credit. The evidence indicates there has been substantial development of the financial sector, even in areas such as small business lending.