Throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), there is a widespread failure of enterprise debtors to make scheduled payments of principal and interest to creditors, who in turn have strong incentives not to declare bankruptcy. In such circumstances, the price mechanism does not properly guide the...

We review current methods for calculating fines against cartels in the US and EU, and simulate their deterrence effects under different assumptions on the legal and economic environment. It is likely that European fines have not had significant deterrence effects before leniency programs were...

Either lending must be secured or otherwise some form of default or bankruptcy rules are required to provide a disincentive against strategic default. When many time periods are involved, the mere specification of a penalty which is sufficient for one period of trade, is not sufficient. The...

Payemnt periods shortened in 2009. The decline is no longer due entirely to SMEs; it now concerns MTEs a well as large companies. It generates cash earnings, chiefly for SMEs.

In 2009, French firms saw a sharp drop in business, particularly export sales. Their response to the crisis and their prudence enabled them to preserve their financial structure relatively well. In a very cautious environment, there was a sharp decline in investment. The situations of individual...

In 2009, the crisis affected SME’s profitability more than their financial structure. Major differences remain between SMEs, with increasing numbers of failures in this category. The decline in investment, which was already weak before the crisis, is compromising their ability to recover in...