Outsourcing public provision of services tends to lower labor intensity and increase its efficiency. Costs are usually lower, but quality problems can affect services like health care and residential youth care. Consumer choice has stimulated innovation in education, but the picture is ambiguous...

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the link between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication efforts of companies and their ability to obtain public procurement contracts. Design/methodology/approach - The authors are exploiting a database with the number of public procurement...

Als Reaktion auf die europäische Staatsschulden- und Währungskrise hat die EU zumindest für die Eurozone den Weg in Richtung einer fiskalischen Solidargemeinschaft eingeschlagen. Befragungsdaten des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) zeigen, dass knapp die Hälfte aller Erwachsenen in...

This paper analyzes different government debt relief programs in the European Monetary Union. I build a model and study different options ranging from debt relief to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The analysis reveals the following: First, patient countries repay debt, while impatient...

With a view to establishing a Capital Markets Union (CMU), efforts to integrate (private) capital markets and private risk-sharing in the European Union are underway. However, the single (capital) market will be burdened by a perennial potential threat to sovereign bond market stability in the...

Using survey data on Bulgarian and Macedonian firms that participated in USAID programs providing technical and financial assistance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and on firms that did not, we estimate the effectiveness of such assistance in increasing the growth of employment in...

Studies on the finance-growth link use different proxy variables for financial development. Among the most used is the total credit share in the GDP. Previous empirical studies show to be sensitive to the choice of the finance proxy indicator. Total credit share in the GDP appears biased in...

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to indicate an innovative solution to address the financing issues faced by "Micro-, Small and Medium Enterprises" (MSME) in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach - Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) especially Islamic banks are competing for...

The micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been acknowledged as the engine of economic growth and for promoting equitable progress all over the world. Let there be any category of countries, the existence of MSMEs is predictable. The MSME sector is playing a pivotal role majorly in...

Serbian local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) owed in excess of EUR 220mn in late 2015, with estimates reaching a much higher figure. According to the national Fiscal Council, underinvestment by local governments amounted to some EUR 250mn annually. This paper looks at insufficient commercial...