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Privately Held Businesses and Lenders Favor Government Shutdown: 48% Support and 39% Oppose, Shows Pepperdine University Study

"Either as a sign of frustration or apathy, a large share of small businesses and lenders appear to be simply annoyed about the idea of a government shutdown," said John Paglia, lead researcher of the Private Capital Markets Project and associate professor of finance at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management. "Those private businesses and lenders who made comments were vocal about the Federal Government applying business discipline to achieve short- and long-term solutions."

The survey (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/privatecapital) among 966 privately-held businesses, capital suppliers, intermediaries, and service providers was conducted on April 7, 2011. The private lending respondents were evenly spread among all lending areas and the private business respondents were primarily owners or senior-level executives.

Results among all respondents also reported:

• 70.1% believe no impact on economy for 1-day shutdown
• 48.8% believe no impact for 1 week
• 26.7% believe no impact for 2 weeks

Results among small privately-held businesses also reported:

• 84.4% believe no impact on privately-held companies for 1-day shutdown; tapers to 75.7% for 1 week; 60.6% for 2 weeks
• 96.7% believe no impact on hiring plans for privately-held companies for 1-day shutdown; tapers to 93.5% for 1 week; 89.6% for 2 weeks
• 98.8% believe no impact on current employment base for privately-held companies for 1-day shutdown; tapers to 98.1% for 1 week; 97.0% for 2 weeks

"The idea that a government shutdown would have a short-term impact on critical areas such as the hiring and staffing is not supported by data," said Paglia. "Private business owners and lenders appear to be more concerned with a drawn out, protracted stalemate that would jeopardize an overall economic recovery."

These findings are part of data recently released from the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project (http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/privatecapital), an investigation of the major private capital markets that examines the current state and outlook for the private capital industry.

The data comes in advance of a comprehensive report due in late April that will examine the opinions of the private lending industry and private business owners.

The Winter 2011 Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project summary report and 2011 economic forecast survey findings are available at: http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/privatecapital.

About the Graziadio School of Business and Management

Founded on the core values of integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion, Pepperdine University's Graziadio (GRAT-ZEE-ah-DEE-oh) School of Business and Management has been developing values-centered leaders and advancing responsible business practice since 1969. Student-focused, experience-driven, and globally-oriented, the Graziadio School offers fully accredited MBA, Masters of Science, and bachelor's completion business programs. More information found at http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/newsroom/.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6677645&lang=en

Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management
Douglass Gore, 310-568-5580
Director of Public Relations
graziadioPR@pepperdine.edu