Making the World Safe for Investors: The Unintended Consequences of the Paycheck Protection Program

Seminar summary

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was the primary vehicle employed by the US Federal government to support SMEs during the Covid-19 pandemic. Interim rules constrained access by PE portfolio firms and we investigate whether these rules ‘worked’, and contrast with non-excluded VC firms. We assess an ‘indirect’ effect, whereby general partners were more likely to purchase firms in receipt of a loan. Matching large PE and PPP datasets, we identify 3,985 loan-holding portfolio firms; a difference-in-difference approach showing the indirect effect was detected for PE and VC. As an unintended consequence, the PPP has aided this sub-group of institutional investors.

How to attend

We welcome you to join us online on Wednesday 22 March 2023 at 2pm. 

This seminar is free to attend. We ask that you please contact Dr Anna Sarkisyan for detail on how to join.

Speaker bio

Dr Stefano Maiani

Stefano Maiani is currently a Post-Doctoral fellow in Economics at Leuphana University of Lüneburg and a Fixed-Term teacher in Finance at the University of Essex. He holds an MRes and a PhD in Finance from the University of Essex. He (re-)joined Essex Business School in January 2023. Stefano's main research interests are in the areas of private equity and cross-country capital flows. His work has been published in the British Journal of Management and the Journal of International Money and Finance.