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Climatic variability and shifting weather patterns, resulting in extreme weather events and natural disasters, pose risks to small businesses in the United States. This is particularly true in coastal regions of the southeast United States where extreme events such as hurricanes, flooding, and thunderstorms are projected to increase in frequency and intensity. Yet, the vast majority of small business owners do not have a disaster plan in place and an estimated 40% to 60% of small businesses that have experienced a natural disaster never reopen. This teaching case explores the impact of climatic trends and weather on one location of an outdoor tourism industry business in the coastal community of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The case draws from observed weather and sales data for the local small business. Students will draw from descriptive statistics, statistical analysis, and graphs to explore (a) long-term climatic trends for the business; (b) relationships between small business sales and local weather; and (c) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to weather conditions and climate change. Instructors can give the body of this document to students. They can also make use of the supplemental teaching notes to assist them with teaching this case.
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Bank Types, Inclusivity, and Paycheck Protection Program Lending During COVID-19
How do differences in bank or lending institution type shape access to credit for small businesses in poor and/or minority communities in the United States? Banking systems are populated by lenders that differ qualitatively in their organizational forms, business models and missions, and that connect—or fail to connect—to small business borrowers and local communities in divergent ways. The authors analyze data on the Paycheck Protection Program and its over 11 million loans made to businesses across the United States to trace how these differences shaped the flow of credit to poor and minority communities. The authors find substantial differences across seven lender types, both in their propensities to avoid or lend to firms in traditionally marginalized communities, and in how much they lend to poor and majority–minority communities relative to their nonpoor and majority White counterparts. From this variety within American banking, the authors identify two potential pathways for more inclusive lending.
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- PAR ID:
- 10402422
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Economic Development Quarterly
- Volume:
- 37
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0891-2424
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 277-294
- Size(s):
- p. 277-294
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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