In this paper we study the relationship between firm age, the use of external finance and new investment decisions, in a sample of European firms. We find that younger firms use less bank financing than older firms only in non-EU countries, suggesting that greater financial development and a...

This paper is one of the first to investigate the determinants of bond issuance by European banks. We use a unique database of around 50,000 bonds issued by 63 banks from 14 European countries, allowing us to differentiate between different types of long-term debt securities. By investigating at...

We examine the impact of bank competition on firms' access to credit using a large panel of 900 banks matched to almost 60.000 firms across the euro area over the period 2010-2016. Results provide empirical support for the market power hypothesis whereby low inter-bank competition worsens firms'...