ABSTRACT
Using City of Oakland data during COVID-19, we document that small business components of survival capabilities-revenue resiliency, labor flexibility, and committed costs-vary by firm size. Nonemployer businesses rely on low cost structures to survive. Microbusinesses (1-to-5 employees) depend on 14% greater revenue resiliency. Enterprises (6-to-50 employees) use labor flexibility to survive, but face 10%- to-20% higher residual closure risk from committed costs. The evidence argues for size-targeting of financial support programs, including committed costs and revenue-based lending programs. Supporting the capabilities mapping, we find that the PPP increased medium-run survival probability by 20.5% specifically for microbusinesses. © 2021 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.