Promoting small businesses’ access to credit and innovation through a reform of the bankruptcy system: evidence from Slovenia

This study examines the impact of a bankruptcy system reform process implemented in Slovenia on access to credit conditions and investments in innovation by small businesses. The reform process increased the recovery rate and reduced the time to resolve insolvency procedures, thus improving the efficiency of the bankruptcy system. Leveraging a dataset of 1,245 Slovenian micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, our results document an increase in innovation investments by small businesses after the reform process due to more accommodating access to credit conditions.