Many policy actions of the CMU have the objective to enhance access to finance for the so-called backbone of the European economy-the SMEs. The CMU aims at improving the framework conditions for SME financing, at strengthening bank lending-as the most important external financing source for...

We investigate the effect of public (PUVC) and private (PRVC) venture capital funds on the sales growth of 6,513 European New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) during the period from 1992 to 2009. Our results show that PUVC-backed NTBFs underperform with respect to PRVC-backed ones and do not grow...

This paper investigates the bank financing policy of new small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), its evolution and its relevance during early growth stages over their first 10 years. We use a large European panel dataset on early-stage SMEs founded in 2007–2015. The study provides useful...

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...

We study the relation between firms financial structure, access to external finance and labor productivity using a unique dataset of firm-level data for several euro area countries during the period 1995-2011. The empirical strategy is twofold. First we build a synthetic indicator of financial...

This paper investigates the links between alternative growth phases of firms and barriers to financing and investment using firm-level information for a representative sample of EU companies. We propose a novel classification of corporates: high growth (HGEs), stable and declining enterprises....

This paper investigates whether financial obstacles, and, more generally, financial pressure faced by firms, significantly affect firm growth. For this purpose, we use an unbalanced panel of about 1,000,000 observations for around 155,000 non-financial corporations in five euro area countries....

This paper reviews the evidence on financing technology-based small firms (TBSFs) in Europe. The main findings in the literature are the 1) European TBSF's finance new investments by relying primarily on internal funds, due to capital market failures induced by asymmetric information; 2)...

We study how the Eurosystem Collateral Framework for corporate bonds helps the European Central Bank (ECB) fulfill its policy mandate. Using the ECBs eligibility list, we identify the first inclusion date of both bonds and issuers. We find that due to the increased supply and demand for...