Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/238293 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IRENE Working Paper No. 20-10
Publisher: 
University of Neuchâtel, Institute of Economic Research (IRENE), Neuchâtel
Abstract: 
This paper identifies the effect of variation in government-backed loan supply on unemployment exploiting regional variation in the Swiss COVID-19 lending program. The rules of the program introduce variation in loan supply across Cantons. This variation helps disentangling supply from demand effects. Higher loan supply reduces unemployment. Increasing the volume by CHF 100,000 saves between 0.22 and 0.29 jobs. Therefore, loan supply has to expand by between CHF 344,800 and CHF 454,500 to save one job. Taking into account that some of the borrowers default, saving one job costs the government between CHF 39,700 and CHF 52,400 per year. These costs are somewhat lower than unemployment benefits associated with the median income.
Subjects: 
Government-backed lending
targeted lending
unemployment
COVID-19
JEL: 
E24
E32
E44
E58
E62
E61
G21
G23
G28
H12
R12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
273.91 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.