Description:
The paper analyzes the relationships between mutual loan-guarantee societies (MLGS), small firms and banks trying to evaluate the role played by the guarantees granted by MLGSs and by different banks on the availability and the cost of credit. We focus on a sample of firms member of a specific MLGS and we run different econometric exercises in order to identify the effects of the interaction between local firms, banks and MLGS on credit rationing, on the cost of credit, and on the time and the number of guarantees required to obtain a line of credit. Our findings suggest a critical relevance of the MLGS guarantees on the local firms' credit access and conditions. Finally, while the existing evidence points out a reduction in the cost of credit due to MLGSs intermediation, our analysis stresses the heterogeneity of the benefits for local firms, which depends substantially by the guarantees provided by the MLGS and by the reference banks