This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of financial intermediation and the economic effects of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a large and novel small business support program that was part of the initial policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. We use loan-level microdata for all PPP loans and high-frequency administrative employment data to present three main findings. First, banks played an important role in mediating program targeting, which helps explain why some funds initially flowed to regions that were less adversely affected by the pandemic. Second, we exploit regional heterogeneity in lending relationships and individual firm-loan matched data to study the role of banks in explaining the employment effects of the PPP. We find the short- and medium-term employment effects of the program were small compared to the program’s size. Third, many firms used the loans to make non-payroll fixed payments and build up savings buffers, which can account for small employment effects and likely reflects precautionary motives in the face of heightened uncertainty. Limited targeting in terms of who was eligible likely also led to many inframarginal firms receiving funds and to a low correlation between regional PPP funding and shock severity. Our findings illustrate how business liquidity support programs affect firm behavior and local economic activity, and how policy transmission depends on the agents delegated to deploy it.

本文对金融中介和薪资保护计划 (PPP) 的经济影响进行了全面评估，该计划是一项大型且新颖的小型企业支持计划，是美国应对 COVID-19 大流行的初步政策响应的一部分。我们对所有 PPP 贷款和高频行政就业数据使用贷款级别的微观数据来呈现三个主要发现。首先，银行在调解计划目标方面发挥了重要作用，这有助于解释为什么一些资金最初流向受大流行不利影响较小的地区。其次，我们利用贷款关系中的区域异质性和单个企业贷款匹配数据来研究银行在解释 PPP 的就业影响中的作用。我们发现，与项目的规模相比，该项目的短期和中期就业影响很小。第三，许多公司使用贷款进行非工资固定支付并建立储蓄缓冲，这可能对就业影响较小，并可能反映出面对高度不确定性时的预防动机。在谁有资格方面有限的目标也可能导致许多超边际公司获得资金，并导致区域 PPP 资金与冲击严重程度之间的相关性较低。我们的研究结果说明了企业流动性支持计划如何影响公司行为和当地经济活动，以及政策传递如何取决于委托部署它的代理人。这可以解释较小的就业影响，并可能反映出面对高度不确定性时的预防动机。在谁有资格方面有限的目标也可能导致许多超边际公司获得资金，并导致区域 PPP 资金与冲击严重程度之间的相关性较低。我们的研究结果说明了企业流动性支持计划如何影响公司行为和当地经济活动，以及政策传递如何取决于委托部署它的代理人。这可以解释较小的就业影响，并可能反映出面对高度不确定性时的预防动机。在谁有资格方面有限的目标也可能导致许多超边际公司获得资金，并导致区域 PPP 资金与冲击严重程度之间的相关性较低。我们的研究结果说明了企业流动性支持计划如何影响公司行为和当地经济活动，以及政策传递如何取决于委托部署它的代理人。