As the dust starts to settle following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March, economists are warning of cracks in the system that started spreading even before the failures. Under conditions of banking turmoil, some are worried credit tightening will become a credit crunch. A credit crunch is a decline in lending activity driven by a shortage of funds. Or, as Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi puts it, “the inability of households and businesses to get the credit that they need.” It’s a phenomenon that can have a big impact on the economy and its growth. “I’m getting really nervous now that an economy that I thought was going to dodge recession is now at much greater risk of falling into one and it could be quite severe because bank credit is the lifeblood for small businesses,” Pantheon Macroeconomics Chief Economist Ian Shepherdson said during a CNBC interview. Follow Straight Arrow News on social media — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/straightarrownews Twitter: https://twitter.com/StraightArrow__ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/straightarrownews/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@straightarrownews For more SAN content: https://straightarrownews.com Sign up for our weekly newsletters: https://newsletter.straightarrownews.com/.