The real effects of banks nationalization–evidence from the UK

How did the nationalization of UK operating banks as a result of the 2008 banking crisis impact their client firms’ performance? We use unique firm-bank data and a propensity score matching technique and find that firms that borrowed from nationalized banks show a slight decrease in the growth of investment and innovation relative to firms that borrowed from non-nationalized banks. Interestingly, we find that firms that borrowed from nationalized banks slightly increase employment, short-term debt and cash holdings. Overall, these firms were able to maintain performance as a result of policy intervention.