They are neglected by China's banks, which prefer to make big loans to large companies.
Some banks are vulnerable because they have made big loans to frackers, on the assumption of high energy prices; others have made big bets on luxury London properties which hedge funds are beginning to short.
In some markets with high barriers to entry, the banks that once made big loans to developers are being replaced by pension funds that invest their own equity and hire developers.
Spain's unlisted regional savings banks, or cajas, which are partly run by the regional governments, are viewed as particularly vulnerable as they have made big loans to regional construction companies in recent years.
In the 1980s, for example, Israeli banks were pushed into making big loans of questionable viability to the country's socialist kibbutzim, resulting in a wave of write-offs and much recrimination.The degree of state ownership of banks varies from country to country (see chart 5).
More surprising, perhaps, was the unimportance of exotic finance: Ireland's bust wasn't a tale of collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps; it was an old-fashioned, plain-vanilla case of excess, in which banks made big loans to questionable borrowers, and taxpayers ended up holding the bag.
Although the Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate to near zero in December 2008 and made big loans and asset purchases, Ms. Yellen said, "all in all, monetary policy can't give the same kick to the economy that it delivered in past recoveries".
But there is growing congressional pressure on our beleaguered banks not to make big loans to foreigners.
The firm has also made big loan commitments, with more than $1 billion earmarked for Facebook and about $250 million pegged to Zynga, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Those obligations are the same regardless of the size of the loan, making bigger loans more profitable for lenders than smaller loans.
