The unintended consequences of easy money: How access to finance impedes entrepreneurship

This paper investigates the manner in which economic policy promotes entrepreneurship, and how this relates to the monetary sources of the business cycle. Whilst access to finance is commonly seen as a crucial means to generate economic growth, efforts to expand the money supply beyond the stock of real savings leads to systemic crises. Therefore the admirable policy goal of promoting more credit for entrepreneurs—whether through access to finance, SME support or regional development—can lead to negative unintended consequences.