The 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF) is the fourth survey of U.S. small businesses conducted by the Board of Governors. The survey collected information on firm and owner characteristics, an inventory of small businesses' use of financial services and of their financial service suppliers, and income and balance sheet information. The content of the 2003 survey is similar to the 1998 survey; however the 2003 survey also provides some new information unavailable in previous surveys. In particular, the survey collected demographic characteristics for up to three individual owners and thereby helped to refine the firm-level measurement of characteristics such as race, ethnicity, sex, and ownership concentration. In addition, the survey collected information on the use of nonstandard work arrangements by firms and about their use of credit and debit card processing. Please consult the 2003 Codebook and Survey Questionnaire for more information.
The 2003 SSBF data set includes 5 implicates. Each implicate includes 4,240 firms. In total, the entire data set contains 21,200 observations which is approximately five times more than previous studies. Even though there are five implicates, there are still only 4,240 firm observations.
Stata format (access over the web):
use http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/data/ssbf/ssbf03.dta 50 Mb
SAS Transport format (in compressed form):
ssbf03.tra.z 11 Mb
The 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF) is the third survey of U.S. small businesses conducted by the Board of Governors. The survey collected information on firm and owner characteristics, an inventory of small businesses' use of financial services and of their financial service suppliers, and income and balance sheet information. The content of the 1998 survey is similar to the 1993 survey; however, there are some differences. Specifically the "most recent loan" section has been revised (section MRL in 1998 survey and section J in 1993 survey) and employment is collected somewhat differently. Some questions on owner wealth have been added. Please consult the 1998 codebook and questionnaire for more information.
Public-Use Data Base Frequency Distribution
Stata format (access over the web):
use http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/data/ssbf/ssbf98.dta 7 Mb
SAS Transport format (in zipped form):
ssbf98.tra.zip 2 Mb
The 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finances (NSSBF) is the second survey of U.S. small businesses conducted by the Board of Governors and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The survey collected information on firm and owner characteristics, an inventory of small businesses' use of financial services and of their financial service suppliers, and income and balance sheet information.
Public-Use Data Base Frequency Distribution
Stata format (access over the web):
use http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/data/ssbf/nssbf93.dta 9 Mb
SAS Transport format (in zipped form):
nssbf93.zip 3 Mb
The 1987 National Survey of Small Business Finances (NSSBF) is the first survey of small businesses in the United States to be conducted by the Board of Governors and the U.S. Small Business Administration. The survey collected information on the use of financial services and institutions for a nationally representative sample of firms (main sample) and a sample of firms with SBA-guaranteed loans (SBA sample). The target population was nonfinancial, nonfarm small business firms with fewer than 500 employees.
Stata format (access over the web):
use http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/data/ssbf/ssbf87.dta 5 Mb
SAS Transport format (in zipped form):
dmi.zip 2 Mb