We study how information technology (IT) affects lender competition, entrepreneurs’ investment, and welfare in a spatial model. The effects of an IT improvement depend on whether it weakens the influence of lender–borrower distance on monitoring costs. If it does, it has a hump-shaped effect on entrepreneurs’ investment and social welfare. If not, competition intensity does not vary, improving lender profits, entrepreneurs’ investment, and social welfare. When entrepreneurs’ moral hazard problem is severe, IT-induced competition is more likely to reduce investment and welfare. We also find that lenders’ price discrimination is not welfare-optimal. Our results are consistent with received empirical work on lending to SMEs.

中文翻译：

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信息技术和贷款人竞争


我们在空间模型中研究信息技术 （IT） 如何影响贷方竞争、企业家投资和福利。IT 改进的效果取决于它是否削弱了贷方与借款人的距离对监控成本的影响。如果是这样，它将对企业家的投资和社会福利产生驼峰状的影响。否则，竞争强度不会发生变化，从而提高贷款人的利润、企业家的投资和社会福利。当企业家的道德风险问题严重时，IT 引发的竞争更有可能减少投资和福利。我们还发现，贷款人的价格歧视并不是福利最优的。我们的结果与收到的关于中小企业贷款的实证工作一致。