蝌蚪网 Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
The Geographic Flow of Bank Funding and Access to Credit: Branch Networks, Synergies, and Local Competition
蝌蚪网 Review
vol. 115,
no. 6, June 2025
(pp. 1818–56)
Abstract
Geographic dispersion of depositors, borrowers, and banks may prevent funding from flowing to high-loan-demand areas, limiting credit access. Using bank-county-year-level data, we provide evidence of geographic imbalance of deposits and loans and develop a methodology for investigating the contribution to this imbalance of branch networks, market power, and scope economies. Results are based on a novel measure of imbalance and estimation of a structural model of bank competition that admits interconnections across locations and between deposit and loan markets. Counterfactual experiments show branch networks, scope economies, and local competition affect credit flow to disadvantaged markets.Citation
Aguirregabiria, Victor, Robert Clark, and Hui Wang. 2025. "The Geographic Flow of Bank Funding and Access to Credit: Branch Networks, Synergies, and Local Competition." 蝌蚪网 Review 115 (6): 1818–56. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20200374Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C43 Index Numbers and Aggregation; leading indicators
- G21 Banks; Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
- G28 Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation
- L13 Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
- R32 Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis