Impact of the Community Reinvestment Act on small business employment in lower income neighborhoods

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on small business growth in low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods in the United States. Using rich firm-level panel data on every U.S. employer, I exploit the sharp threshold cutoff for CRA eligibility and changes in CRA eligibility over time to estimate the effects on business employment. I find that the firms located in the CRA eligible areas increase employment by about 0.8 percent compared to firms in CRA ineligible areas, and the effects are larger for young firms and firms in minority neighborhoods, which potentially face higher credit access barriers, increasing employment by about 1.5 and 1.9 percent, respectively. I also find that increases in lending in the CRA areas are related to the number of banks, implying that the channel offers greater access to finance.