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Finance Publication

MBDA provides a repository of publications for public research and review.

Categories include:  Demographic Trends | Entrepreneurial InnovationsExport  | Finance | Industry Trends | Strategic Alliances | Supply Chain | U.S. Economy | Technology

Understanding the Landscape: Access to Capital for Women Entrepreneurs 
March 2018

In conjunction with Women’s History Month, the National Women’s Business Council has released a report under their Access to Capital pillar titled Understanding the Landscape: Access to Capital for Women Entrepreneurs. The first of four reports released from the Council’s inter-agency agreement with the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress synthesizes peer-reviewed literature published between 2010 and 2017 to develop a holistic understanding of the literature conducted on women’s entrepreneurship and capital. It also identifies future areas of investigation and gaps in literature for interested researchers.

» Full Report


Financing Patterns and Credit Market Experiences: A Comparison by Race and Ethnicity for U.S. Employer Firms
February 2018

This study examines racial and ethnic differences in financing patterns, access to capital, and credit market experiences among U.S. employer firms. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs (ASE), this report sheds light on the ongoing financing challenges facing minority entrepreneurs nearly a decade after the financial crisis. In particular, it highlights differences in financing amounts, financing sources, attempted funding relationships, avoidance of financing, and the impact of financing on firm profitability and closure across ethnic and racial demographics.

» Full Report
» Research Summary


Peer-to-Peer Lending: A Financing Alternative for Small Businesses
Year 2015

In this brief, Research Economist Miriam Segal builds upon existing research and discusses the emerging funding option by explaining the investment model, comparing it to traditional small business financing options, and presenting implications regarding the future of peer-to-peer lending.

» Download Issue Brief


Credit Scores and Credit Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Survey of Small Business Finances and the Kauffman Firm Survey
Year 2014

Small businesses often struggle to find available credit. Building on previous literature, this research analyzes what factors, including business credit scores, may explain credit outcomes (approvals or denials) for small businesses. It further asks what role business credit scores might play in the credit outcomes of women- and minority-owned small businesses.

» Research Summary
» Download Report


Small Business Lending in the United States 2012
Year 2013

Understanding how small businesses are financed is important, since small firms are major contributors to the economy. Small businesses tend to rely on traditional depository institutions for their credit needs. Since the end of the recession in mid-2009, overall lending conditions have improved for businesses, but improvement has been slower for small firms. This report provides information on recent developments in small business borrowing by analyzing the lending patterns of depository lending institutions nationally and at the local level.

» Download Report


Access to Capital among Young Firms, Minority-owned Firms, Women-owned Firms, and High-tech Firms
Year 2013

The availability of capital is crucial for small business startup, survival, and growth. This study investigates how the youngest small firms operated and were financed during the evolving financial environment of the recent Great Recession, especially high-tech firms and firms owned by women and minorities.

» Introduction
» Download Report


The Impact of Credit Availability on Small Business Exporters
Year 2013

A dramatic drop in U.S. exports during the 2008-2009 financial crisis and Great Recession stimulated interest in investigating the relationship between trade finance and small business exports. This research examines whether and how the tightening of credit affects small firm exporters.

» Download Report


Trade Finance Guide
Year 2012

A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters is designed to help U.S. companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, learn the basic fundamentals of trade finance so that they can turn their export opportunities into actual sales and to achieve the ultimate goal of getting paid—especially on time—for those sales. Concise, two-page chapters offer the basics of numerous financing techniques, from open accounts, to forfaiting to government assisted foreign buyer financing.

» Introduction
» Download Report
» Spanish Version


Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital
Year 2012

Immigrants make a significant contribution to business ownership and formation, according to a new study from the Office of Advocacy. Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners, and their Access to Financial Capital found that 10 percent of immigrants own a business. Nearly 20 percent of immigrant-owned businesses started with $50,000 or more in startup capital, compared to 15.9 percent for non-immigrant-owned business.

» Research Summary
» Download Report PDF 257KB


Connecting Small Manufacturers with the Capital Needed to Grow, Compete, and Succeed: Small Manufacturers Capital Access Inventory and Needs Assessment Report
November 2011

This report summarizes the findings and recommendations from the environmental scan conducted during the capital access assessment project. The content of the report is not intended to provide an academic, in-depth study of the capital market. Instead, the goal of the assessment was to provide MEP a working basis for understanding the capital access challenges currently being experienced by SMEs and possible solutions for addressing these challenges. The observations and recommendations contained are the opinions of the authors (Booz Allen Hamilton project team) and are based upon the information collected through interviews with a representative set of stakeholders, existing data, and surveys conducted by the several reputable organizations referenced in this document.

» Download Report PDF 1.9 MB


Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses: The Troubling Reality of Capital Limitations Faced by MBEs.
Year 2010

Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses: The Troubling Reality of Capital Limitations Faced by MBEs provides new findings on disparities in capital access between minority businesses and non-minority businesses after controlling for a number of factors including the size of the firm and creditworthiness among other. The report includes a review of the 2008 recession and financial crisis which affected the ability of minority businesses to secure the capital they need to establish and grow their businesses. It also provides an overview of the barriers to capital access faced by minority businesses.

» Executive Summary - Disparities in Capital Access between Minority and Non-Minority Businesses
» Download Report PDF 2.7MB


Accelerating Job Creation & Economic Productivity
Year 2004
Accelerating Job Creation & Economic Productivity discusses how minority business enterprises (MBEs) present an historic and dynamic growth opportunity for the U.S. economy. MBEs are one of the fastest-growing sectors of the business community, however, they continue to face systemic barriers in accessing capital markets, whether debt or equity, to grow their businesses. To develop minority firms of the scale and size required to have a significant economic impact, minority entrepreneurs must obtain the financing critical to expand their businesses.  The report presents recommendations made by a group of financing experts and community leaders from the public and private sectors brought together by MBDA.  The group focused on identifying and expanding access to capital issues for minority business enterprises.

» Download Report PDF 511 KB


Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets
Year 2000
Economic growth cannot be sustained without the inclusion of Minority Business and the infusion of capital into those businesses. Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets provides recommendations for increasing financing opportunities for minority businesses.

» Download Report PDF 1.2MB