Governments of most countries seek to encourage Small and Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) growth and the job creation that many believe is fostered by such growth. Substantive growth usually requires expansion capital. It is often perceived that compared with larger firms, SMEs face disproportionately less access to the debt capital they need for start-up, growth, and survival.Consequently, governments and trade associations have often intervened in credit markets by taking on the role of guarantor of loans that financial institutions advance to SMEs. For example, the Small Business Administration in the United States provides guarantees of loans made by banks to qualifying small firms. Similar schemes are in effect in, among other countries,Canada, Japan, the U.K., Korea, and Germany. Trade associations take on such roles in France, Spain,and other nations.

Loans that support the expansion of small enterprises may convey significant benefits to the borrowing firms and, through job creation and retention, to the rest of society. However, to the extent that some borrowers are unable to meet the repayment obligations of their debt, guarantors also face material real costs of honoring their guarantee to the lenders. Loan guarantee programs are designed in a variety of ways. Often these programs do not appear to reflect guidance from economic theory or experience.This paper draws on empirical evidence to comp



′ó?àêy1ú?òμ??t??1?à??DD??óòμμ?3é3¤￡?2￠è??a?DD??óòμμ?3é3¤?ü′ù???íòμ?ú?áμ???3¤?￡?DD??óòμêμ?êD?μ?3é3¤Dèòa×ê±?à????￡í¨3￡è??a￡??à??óú′ó?óòμ????￡??DD??óòμ??áù×?2?3é±èày?ò???μoüéù?@@??ˉμ???·￠?e?￠3é3¤oíéú′??ùDèòaμ?????×ê±??￡?t??oíDDòμD-?á3￡3￡°??Y??D?′?μ￡±￡è?μ???é?ò?ê1′????ú11?ò?DD??óòμ·￠·?′????￡àyè?￡??ú?à1ú￡?D??óòμ1üàí???ò·?o?ì??tμ?D??óòμ·￠·?ò?DD′???μ￡±￡?￡àà??μ?????￡?êμ?êé?￡??ú????1ú?òàyè??ó??′ó￡?è?±?￡?ó￠1ú￡?o?1úoíμ?1ú
??′??ú?￡·¨1ú?￠?÷°à?àoí????1ú?òμ?DDòμD-?áò23￡3￡°??Y×??a????é??￡
?§3?à?′óD??óòμμ?′???￡??é?ü?á???è??μ￥??′?à′????D§ò?￡?2￠?ò?ü1?í¨1y′′?ìD?μ??íòμ?ú??oí±￡á??-à′μ??ú??￡?ò2?á??????é??á′?à′????D§ò??￡è???￡?′ó?3??3ì?èé?￡?ò?D??è??è??T·¨??DD?ú?è??3￥?1ò???￡?μ￡±￡??ò2??áù×??ò·???????DDμ?μ￡±￡ò???μ????êé?μ?êμ?ê3é±??￡′???μ￡±￡????êéóD?÷???÷?ùμ?éè???ùê??￡í¨3￡￡??aD?????êéμ?3???2￠2??±?ó·′ó3?-??àí???ò?-?é·???μ??????￡?a?a????ê??ùóúêμ?¤?D??ò???±è′???μ￡±￡μ?3é±?oíê?ò??￡′?ía￡?±??a????ê1ó??D???á1?oí?-??àí???ò