The global financial crisis heralded a new era of macroprudential mortgage regulations such as loan-to-value and loan-to-income restrictions. Such measures safeguard the financial system but can lead to credit access difficulties, in particular for first-time buyers. In this paper, we examine...

The years before the financial crisis saw a dramatic build-up in private debt levels in several countries and this increase was particularly marked in Ireland. In this paper, we look at whether outstanding debt taken out by small and medium sized enterprises in Ireland constrains current...

The credit bubble experienced by the Irish residential and financial sector immediately prior to the global financial crisis (GFC) was one of the largest experienced across contemporary western economies. The Irish property market had witnessed a significant increase in activity as the economy...

The financial crisis has brought to the fore concerns regarding small- and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) capacity to access traditional bank lending. Using European firm-level data on SME access to finance since the onset of the financial crisis, we find that bank-lending constrained SMEs are...

Using euro area firm-level data since the recent financial crisis, we test whether bank lending constrained small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to use or apply for alternative external finance including trade credit, informal lending, loans from other companies, market...