We assess the impact of the sovereign risk spill-overs onto corporate cost of borrowing in selected euro area countries. We utilize a novel nonparametric dependence filtering frame- work to remove the effects of sovereign risk in the interest rate pass-through context. The main findings confirm...

We develop a sovereign default risk index using natural language processing techniques and 10 million news articles covering over 100 countries. The index is a highfrequency measure of countries' default risk, particularly for those lacking marketbased measures: it correlates with sovereign CDS...

Using a pan-European data set of 8.5 million firms, this paper finds that firms with high debt overhang invest relatively more than otherwise similar firms if they are operating in sectors facing good global growth opportunities. At the same time, the positive impact of a marginal increase in...

Capitalising on the productivity decomposition proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996), we analyse the role of financial factors behind the relatively muted post-crisis rebound in productivity compared to previous upturns in Europe. Firstly, we provide an OLS-consistent framework to decompose...

We look at the impact of intermediated funding provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the 28 member countries of the European Union between 2008 and 2014. We use a combination of propensity score matching and...

We estimate heterogeneous treatment effects of the EIB financial support on European firms between 2008 and 2015. The relevant control groups are created with propensity score matching and the effects are estimated in a difference-in-differences framework, controlling for firm-level and...

We document the investment and financing decisions of firms that experience monetary losses due to extreme weather events. Our sample covers firms operating in 41 economies, mainly emerging and developing markets. Consistent with the need to either replenish damaged capital or to adapt to...

Using panel data on Egyptian firms to explore cyclical and structural determinants of access to finance, we find that firms with more educated and more experienced managers are more likely to open a checking account, often a prerequisite for obtaining credit. Firms that started operating in the...

The credit gap in this study is given by the financing needs of firms that are bankable but discouraged from applying for a loan. To quantify the credit gap, we combine a scoring model that assesses the creditworthiness of discouraged firms with a credit allocation rule. Our study covers 35...

We use the 2021 vintage of the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) which contains a detailed set of questions regarding the nature of the policy support to firms during the COVID-19 crisis. Matched with hard data on the balance sheets and Profit and Loss (P&L) statements of corporations, the survey...