Authors: Daniel Immergluck and Erin Mullen
Summary
This report analyzes data on 504 lending for the entire nation and for the Chicago metropolitan area to discern whether this Small Business Administration program is serving sound economic development purposes. The SBA comes under perennial scrutiny by Congress. Much of this scrutiny has concerned the levels of subsidy and loss rates associated with the agency’s various programs, including some of its newer initiatives aimed at smaller borrowers. While some of these concerns may be valid, a more fundamental issue receives much less attention: the appropriate rationale for government involvement in supporting financing of individual small businesses.
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Economic Development Where It’s Needed: Directing SBA 504 Lending to Lower-Income Communities
