Abstract

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) provided approximately US $790 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to small businesses across the United States. This study merges a verified industry dataset of craft beer producers with government microdata on PPP loan recipients to examine the relationship between PPP funding and small business performance during the pandemic. Results indicate that firms receiving PPP funding were more likely to remain in operation and experience a smaller decline in annual production. However, even within a single industry, COVID-19 had heterogeneous effects on different market segments, demonstrating the importance of a firm’s pre-pandemic business model on its flexibility and resiliency during a crisis. Finally, using a quasi-experiment that exploits a natural break in the loan program, the study suggests a positive causal effect of the role of loan approval timing on short-run performance outcomes. These findings provide evidence that the PPP alleviated some losses induced by COVID-19, but questions remain about the program’s distribution and long-term impacts.

Plain English Summary

The US federal government created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to minimize the economic damages from COVID-19 on workers and small businesses. One industry hit particularly hard by the pandemic was the craft brewing industry, making it an ideal industry to explore whether the PPP achieved its objectives. The results show that receiving a PPP loan increased the likelihood of remaining in business through the pandemic. Additionally, while most craft breweries experienced a decline in annual production from 2019 to 2020, firms that received a PPP loan experienced a smaller reduction. Breweries that received the earliest funding also performed better, suggesting that loan timing played a key role in performance outcomes. Taken together, the study suggests that the government program helped reduce economic damages associated with COVID-19, but more work is needed to fully understand the program’s impact.

中文翻译：

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薪酬保护计划和小企业绩效：来自精酿啤酒厂的证据

摘要

薪资保护计划 (PPP) 向美国各地的小企业提供了约 7900 亿美元的 COVID-19 救助资金。本研究将经过验证的精酿啤酒生产商行业数据集与 PPP 贷款接受者的政府微观数据相结合，以检验 PPP 资金与大流行期间小企业绩效之间的关系。结果表明，获得 PPP 资金的公司更有可能继续运营，并且年产量下降幅度较小。然而，即使在单一行业内，COVID-19 也会对不同的细分市场产生不同的影响，这证明了一家公司在大流行前的商业模式对其在危机期间的灵活性和弹性的重要性。最后，使用一个利用贷款计划自然中断的准实验，该研究表明，贷款批准时间对短期绩效结果的作用具有积极的因果关系。这些发现提供的证据表明，PPP 减轻了 COVID-19 造成的一些损失，但有关该计划的分布和长期影响的问题仍然存在。

简单的英语摘要

美国联邦政府制定了薪资保护计划 (PPP)，以尽量减少 COVID-19 对工人和小企业造成的经济损失。受疫情影响尤为严重的行业之一是精酿啤酒行业，使其成为探索 PPP 是否实现其目标的理想行业。结果表明，获得 PPP 贷款增加了在大流行期间继续经营的可能性。此外，虽然大多数精酿啤酒厂的年产量从 2019 年到 2020 年有所下降，但获得 PPP 贷款的公司的减产幅度较小。最早获得资金的啤酒厂也表现更好，这表明贷款时机在绩效结果中发挥了关键作用。总而言之，该研究表明政府计划有助于减少与 COVID-19 相关的经济损失，