As policymakers refocus on growth, the ability to take a firm-level view is key to disentangling the various factors at the root of competitiveness, and thus to designing appropriate policies. Firm-level data provides critical information for the design of appropriate competitiveness measures...

Direct European Central Bank intervention in the market for asset-backed securities (ABS) has the potential to become, under certain conditions, a mechanism to unlock credit markets in the euro area. * When and how the ECB acts will be significant. Acting immediately to purchase existing...