In the wake of the crisis, the capacity of many banks to lend to relatively high-risk sectors such as SMEs and young, innovative firms is seriously impaired by capital constraints and a strong deterioration in the quality of the assets on their balance sheets. Looking forward, it is vital that...

With the advent of the digital revolution in the 1990s, productivity growth in the EU began to slip behind that in the US and other leading trading partners. This trend has undermined the comparative ability of European firms to compete and to provide rewarding jobs and a high standard of...

For Central, Eastern and Southeastern European (CESEE) countries, the euro area is the most important export destination. Nevertheless, geographical export patterns differ among individual CESEE countries, and economic growth within the euro area has diverged in the run-up to and since the...