This study analyzes differences by gender in the ownership of privately held U.S. firms and examines the role of gender in the availability of credit. Using data from the nationally representative Surveys of Small Business Finances, which span a period of sixteen years, we document a series of...

We examine the usage of debt by small firms trading on the over-the-counter (OTC) market and filing annual reports with the SEC. Similar to firms included in the Survey of Small Business Finance, the small OTC firms in our sample are more dependent on debt financing than firms listed on the NYSE...

Using a large sample of U.S. small businesses and a new measure of optimism, we examine the role of entrepreneurial optimism in small business lending. We provide evidence that optimistic entrepreneurs are not rationed by lenders. Quite the opposite, our results suggest that they often have...