Yugoslavia's (1) economic system differed in many respects from the model pursued by other communist countries, and banking is certainly one of the areas where the country set itself apart from its peers. Yugoslavia had already introduced a two-tier banking system in the mid-1950s and also...

This paper discusses alternative ways of defining and measuring the marginal economic cost of public funds and reviews empirical cost estimates - including estimates for EU countries. Moreover, it illustrates how the economic cost of public funds should be accounted for in cost-benefit analyses...

Introducing the topic of SME finance and summarising the main findings of the contributions to this edition of the EIB Papers, this overview stresses the importance of relationship banking for the supply of SME credit; points out the differences and similarities in the capital structure of firms...

This paper examines whether small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe suffer from a structural financing problem that hinders their growth. To this end, we estimate growth-cashflow sensitivities for firms in different size classes. Our results show that the sensitivity of company growth...

The main purpose of this paper is to preview the other contributions to this volume of the EIB Papers. In this context, it offers a few additional perspectives. One highlights why energy issues have re-emerged as a matter of policy interest. Another concerns the difference between the...