It is well established that there is uneven availability of credit across space, in particular for SMEs. The evidence on whether this translates into differences in actual business investments remains scarce. We assess this question by using firm-level data for Swedish firms and estimate the extent to which the average investment-cash flow sensitivities of firms vary across the urban–rural hierarchy. We find that the world of financing is not yet flat for the majority of Swedish SMEs. Companies located in non-metro regions are most dependent on own cash flow in their investments. The results hold for all firms, firms of different sizes, firms operating in low-end services, unaffiliated firms and those belonging to domestic corporations. In contrast, investment-cash flow sensitivity of firms operating in high-tech services and those belonging to a multinational enterprise does not differ geographically. On average, regional investment-cash flow sensitivity is lower in bigger, denser and more educated local labour market regions; it is higher in regions with greater concentration of SMEs.

众所周知，不同空间的信贷供应不均衡，尤其是对中小企业而言。关于这是否会转化为实际商业投资差异的证据仍然很少。我们通过使用瑞典公司的公司层面数据来评估这个问题，并估计公司的平均投资现金流敏感性在城乡等级之间的差异程度。我们发现，大多数瑞典中小企业的融资环境并不平坦。位于非都市区的公司在投资中最依赖自己的现金流。结果适用于所有公司、不同规模的公司、从事低端服务的公司、非附属公司和属于国内公司的公司。相比之下，从事高科技服务的公司和属于跨国企业的公司的投资现金流敏感性在地域上没有差异。平均而言，在更大、更密集和受教育程度更高的当地劳动力市场区域，区域投资现金流敏感性较低；在中小企业集中度较高的地区，这一比例较高。