The Small Business Credit Gap: Some New Evidence

What is the magnitude of credit constraint or credit gap affecting small businesses? This paper provides estimates of credit gap, defined as the difference between the desired and actual levels of debt for credit- constrained small businesses using the data from the National Survey of Small Business Finances. The estimated credit gap is approximately 20 percent – credit constrained small business on the average would desire 20 percent more debt. This credit gap varies considerably across industries, with service, manufacturing, and wholesale industries facing a significantly larger gap than firms in other industries. Evidence also indicates that relationship banking helps to narrow the credit gap. From a policy perspective, our results indicate that credit policies will be more effective if they are customized to industry needs.Lending Relationship, Small Business Finance, Credit Constraints

Analysis of Spatial Variation in Flood Risk Perception

We use hedonic property models to estimate the spatial variation in flood risk in the city of Albany, GA. In addition to knowing whether a property is in the floodplain, we have a unique dataset with actual inundation maps from tropical storm Alberto that hit Albany in 1994. In the absence of information on the structural damages caused by a flood, having information on the actual inundated area can be useful to tease out information effect of a new flood from potential reconstruction cost. We find that the discount in actually inundated properties is larger which supports our hypothesis that homeowners respond better to what they have visualized (“seeing is believing”) and also the potential reconstruction cost in addition to information effect is capitalized in property prices.Flood Risk, Inundation, Spatial, Discount, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q, R,

Giant planets: Clues on current and past organic chemistry in the outer solar system

The giant planets of the outer solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - were formed in the same flattened disk of gas and dust, the solar nebula, as the terrestrial planets were. Yet, the giant planets differ in some very fundamental ways from the terrestrial planets. Despite enormous differences, the giant planets are relevant to exobiology in general and the origin of life on the Earth in particular. The giant planets are described as they are today. Their basic properties and the chemistry occurring in their atmospheres is discussed. Theories of their origin are explored and aspects of these theories that may have relevance to exobiology and the origin of life on Earth are stressed