Rethinking the Rural Credit Gap

A decade-long slowdown in the rural economy has often been blamed on overcautious lending institutions. To rectify that, legislators, both State and national, have proposed government programs to make rural credit more easily available. Such a solution, besides being expensive, may be based on faulty premises. Most of the slowdown, in fact, seems due more to weak business conditions rather than to reluctance by lenders. As a result, other less expensive programs may have more success. Alternative programs include establishing secondary markets for business loans and providing technical assistance to rural entrepreneurs.