Measuring the Impact of the Bank of North Dakota (Graphs)
Thanks in large part to the Bank of North Dakota, community banks and credit unions are much more robust in North Dakota than in other states.… Read More
One in Four Local Banks Has Vanished since 2008. Here’s What’s Causing the Decline and Why We Should Treat It as a National Crisis.
The precipitous decline in the number of community banks in recent years is a national crisis, and there’s a fierce debate underway right now about what’s to blame.… Read More
Percentage of Bad Loans by Size of Bank, 1999 to 2014
As this graph shows, giant banks consistently make poorer lending decisions and write-off more bad loans than community banks do, and the financial crisis heightened this trend.… Read More
Just How Concentrated Is Our Banking Sector? [Video]
This 90-second video shows how giant banks have devoured the banking sector over the past 20 years.… Read More
Federal Study Confirms “Too Big To Fail” Gives Megabanks a Hidden Funding Advantage
When the country’s giant banks were teetering on the verge of collapse during 2008’s financial crisis, the U.S. government stepped in to bail them out. The banks were, in a phrase that has since become infamous, “Too Big To Fail.” Would the government do it again? And does the expectation that it would step in give megabanks an unfair competitive advantage over local community banks? Those are the questions at the heart of an eagerly awaited report released at the end of July by the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan federal department. In a conclusion that highlights the need for more regulatory action to reduce concentration in the banking system, the G.A.O. found that the answers to both questions are “yes.”… Read More
Stacy Mitchell on Local Bites Podcast (Audio)
ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell is interviewed on the Local Bites Podcast. She lays out the evidence against the growing consolidation of economic power in the hands of a few global corporations and exposes the policy decisions that have led us down this path. She highlights several promising initiatives from the growing localization movement, and outlines the key components of a ‘localist policy agenda’. … Read More
Understanding the Small Business Credit Crunch
Even as their big competitors are awash in capital, many locally owned businesses are struggling to secure the financing they need to grow. This analysis finds that, since 2000, bank lending to large businesses is up 36 percent, while small business loan volume has fallen 14 percent and “micro” business loans — those under $100,000 — have plummeted 33 percent.… Read More
Change in Volume of Bank Loans to Businesses, by Loan Size, 2000-2012
Since 2000, the overall volume of business lending per capita at banks has grown by 26 percent, but this expansion has entirely benefited large businesses. Small business loan volume at banks is down 14 percent and micro business loan volume is down 33 percent. … Read More
SBA Loans Decrease in Number, Double in Size
Over the last few years, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has dramatically reduced its support for smaller small businesses and shifted more of its loan guarantees to larger small businesses.… Read More