This paper investigates the factors that explain the level and dynamics of productive efficiency of a manufacturing firm. In our empirical analysis, we use a unique sample of about 39,000 firms in 256 industries from the German Cost Structure Census over the years 1992–2005. We estimate the...

This paper provides evidence on ethnic differences in bank debt financing among small Swedish firms at the start-up stage. The empirical analysis is carried out on a sample of small firms consisting of 2,814 native- and immigrant-owned firms for year 2008. The method of binary logistic...

Small firms in general have limited access to funding, which is a major problem for entrepreneurs. In particular, this problem is evident for women and ethnic minority groups. The purpose of the study is to examine empirically the impact of gender, ethnicity and other relevant variables on the...