Bryan, Gharad <br/><br/>
Big Loans to Small Businesses: Predicting Winners and Losers in an Entrepreneurial Lending Experiment 

 -  American Economic Review  2024 
 - 2825-2860 
<br/><br/> We experimentally study the impact of relatively large enterprise loans in Egypt. Larger loans generate small average impacts, but machine learning using psychometric data reveals "top performers" (those with the highest predicted treatment effects) substantially increase profits, while profits drop for poor performers. The large differences imply that lender credit allocation decisions matter for aggregate income, yet we find existing practice leads to substantial misallocation. We argue that some entrepreneurs are overoptimistic and squander the opportunities presented by larger loans by taking on too much risk, and show the promise of allocations based on entrepreneurial type relative to firm characteristics. 
<br/><br/><label>ISSN: </label>0002-8282 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/> Depository Institutions<br/> Financial Risk and Risk Management<br/> Micro Finance Institutions<br/> Mortgages, Financing Policy<br/> Value of Firms<br/>Capital and Ownership Structure