Information Technology and Credit: Evidence from Public Guarantees

The authors thank the Italian Ministry for Economic Development and Medio Credito Centrale for sharing confidential data on loan guarantees. Alessandro Archetti, Riccardo Di Cato, and Marco Gortan provided outstanding research assistance. Special thanks to Davide Arnaudo and Paola Rossi for providing different measures of IT services from the Bank of Italy Regional Bank Lending Survey. The authors are grateful to Paul Calem, Hans Degryse, Nicola Gennaioli, Nicola Limodio, Fergal McCann, José-Luis Peydró, Andrea Presbitero, Julien Sauvagnat, Enrico Sette, and Philip Strahan as well as participants at American Finance Association 2021, Bocconi University, Central Bank of Ireland Workshop, Columbia School of International and Policy Affairs/Bank Policy Institute Conference, Deutsche Bank “Credit Risk over the Cycle” conference, European Banking Authority, Einaudi Institute of Economics and Finance, Erasmus University, Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies 2020 workshop, University of Padua, and the Zurich Sustainable Banking Workshop for helpful comments and suggestions. This paper previously circulated with the title “Public Guarantees for Small Businesses in Italy during Covid-19.”