The Shielding Effect of Access to Finance on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises during the COVID-19 Crisis: Comparing Fintech and Traditional Finance

Yuming Zhang, Chao Xing and Xiaohan Guo

Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 2023, vol. 59, issue 8, 2383-2397

Abstract: The COVID-19 outbreak has caused a considerable cash crunch among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this context, we explore whether financial technology (fintech) and traditional finance could produce a shielding effect on SMEs to reduce the impact of COVID-19. Utilizing a unique dataset of China’s SMEs in the pre- and post-periods of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we find that in regions with a well-developed fintech and traditional finance environment and in SMEs that utilize more fintech and traditional finance instruments, the pandemic has had less of an impact on the cash shortage. More importantly, this study indicates that fintech is more effective in reducing the negative impact of the pandemic and helping SMEs recover in the post-pandemic period. Our analyses may shed light on the crisis management and economic reconstitution of SMEs.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1540496X.2022.2072201 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mes:emfitr:v:59:y:2023:i:8:p:2383-2397

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/MREE20

DOI: 10.1080/1540496X.2022.2072201

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Emerging Markets Finance and Trade from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().