Economic effects of access to finance

This dissertation contains three chapters. The first chapter studies the relation between access to finance and productivity. We exploit a natural experiment and find that access to finance can lead to greater productivity. The second chapter studies the relation between risk management and productivity. I find that the exogenous portion of the choice to manage risk can explain greater productivity. The third chapter studies how consumers substitute between alternative sources of finance. I find that borrowers residing in areas with a greater supply of bank capital seek financing at lower interest rates from an alternative source of finance.