摘要：Respondents to a survey generally ex-pressed the opinion that financial marketshave the capability to provide the credit theyneed for their rural small businesses, eventhough their requests may actually have beendenied. However, when the data from theirmore objective responses were analyzed, theresults strongly suggested that perceptions andreality were not the same. Available debt andventure capital may not be lacking in all areasof the Commonwealth, but in some localities,small business owners needing access to fi-nancing cannot get the money they need. Thissituation presents barriers to economic devel-opment for those localities, especially the to-bacco-producing counties, which face immi-nent needs to diversify and adjust. These bar-riers need to be removed if localities are toremain economically viable. And the Com-monwealth should examine its proper role inensuring access to credit. var currentpos,timer; function initialize() { timer=setInterval("scrollwindow()",10);} function sc(){clearInterval(timer); }function scrollwindow() { currentpos=document.body.scrollTop; window.scroll(0,++currentpos); if (currentpos != document.body.scrollTop) sc();} document.onmousedown=scdocument.ondblclick=initializeinefficiencies is the risk characteristics associatedwith the business which should be the onlydeterminant of the borrower's access to capital.A critical limitation of this study, sponsored by theRural Economic Analysis Program (REAP), is thatthe businesses surveyed are those which havesurvived with the current conditions of the ruralfinancial markets. The study would have been morecomplete, and potentially more starkly revealing, ifinformation from entrepreneurs unable to beginbusiness or exiting business because of the lack ofdebt financing, venture capital, or both could havebeen obtained and analyzed. Such information,however, was not available.A 1997 survey of lenders and farm and non-farmbusinesses in five rural Virginia counties providedthe information for the research. The purpose of thisresearch was to determine if extraordinary difficultiesexist for entrepreneurs when they attempt to obtainfinancing or venture or equity capital. If suchdifficulties exist, knowing the source of the problemsis important in providing appropriate solutions. Animportant part of developing solutions is to identifythe appropriate role for the state, if any.Among the possible market inadequacies andinefficiencies are (1) a lack of available capital; (2)a lack of information on the part of potentialborrowers, lenders, or both; (3) a mismatch betweenthe type of financing requested and the typeavailable; (4) non-risk characteristics of eitherborrowers or lenders that contribute to loanrejections; or (5) some combination of these.An analytical model was used to analyze the datacollected. Four types of information were used torepresent different measures of financing difficulty:1) data on loan rejections;2) data on the use of non-local financing, whichsuggest local financing was not available underconditions acceptable to both borrower andlender;3) opinions of survey respondents on the adequacyof local capital markets; and4) respondents' expectations of future performanceof the local capital market.The effectiveness of the rural financial markets inVirginia is based on the postulate that the only reasonfor denying credit should be the financial riskcharacteristics of potential borrowers. Ifnonfinancial risk characteristics of local businessesor of the local capital markets are significantdeterminants of financing difficulty, the capitalmarkets are functioning inefficiently or inadequately.The results of the analysis indicate that in Virginia,capital market inefficiencies and inadequacies existand that, potentially, additional inefficiencies andinadequacies will occur. Rural businesses, bothagricultural and nonagricultural, are constrained intheir diversification, growth, and adjustment effortsby a lack of financing. Recommendations to addressthese problems and to suggest how a governmentalpresence in rural capital markets might help achievebetter access to capital are included in thispublication.2A study by the United States Department ofAgriculture (USDA), Credit in Rural America,"failed to uncover any evidence that seriousmarket failures are . . . epidemic in rural areas.Nonetheless, based on the structure of ruralcredit markets and anecdotal evidence, it islikely that market imperfections persist in manyrural areas." (p. 33)How the Study Was DoneA substantial base of information was collectedfrom counties representative of the diverse economicconditions found in Virginia. The question, "Arethere problems in access to debt and venture or equitycapital." is answered by this extensive, firsthandinformation.The five counties chosen to be sent surveys--Brunswick, Grayson, Halifax, Mecklenburg, andPatrick--represent widely differing levels ofeconomic development, rates of economic growth,and combinations of agricultural and nonagriculturalbusiness enterprises (Figure 1). The primary income-producing agricultural crop in Brunswick, Halifax,Mecklenburg, and Patrick counties is flue-curedtobacco. The principal agricultural enterprises inGrayson County are burley tobacco and beef cattle.Only Halifax County has experienced a greater thanthe state average population increase of 5 to 7 percentfrom 1990 to 1995. Brunswick, Grayson, and Patrickcounties have had lower than the state average
