The Real Effects of Banks' Corporate Credit Supply: A Literature Review

In this paper, we review the rapidly growing literature on the real effects of banks’corporate credit supply. We cover recent methodological advances and provide anin-depth survey of the existing evidence. The literature consistently shows that creditsupply contractions lead to adverse real outcomes, but economic magnitudes vary acrosssamples and identification strategies. This variation has become smaller in more recentwork, using highly granular data. We further document heterogeneity in firm outcomesand show that the evidence is more ambiguous for expansionary shocks. Our analysisallows us to identify current knowledge gaps and worthwhile avenues for future research.