In the wake of the crisis, the capacity of many banks to lend to relatively high-risk sectors such as SMEs and young, innovative firms is seriously impaired by capital constraints and a strong deterioration in the quality of the assets on their balance sheets. Looking forward, it is vital that...

Die vorliegende Studie schließt an unsere vorangegangene Untersuchung "Bankdienstleistungen in afrikanischen Ländern südlich der Sahara - Herausforderungen und Chancen" aus dem Jahr 2013 an. Ihr Ziel ist es, über die jüngsten Entwicklungen und Trends im Bankensektor in Subsahara-Afrika zu...

Die vorliegende Studie schließt an unsere vorangegangene Untersuchung "Bankdienstleistungen in afrikanischen Ländern südlich der Sahara - Herausforderungen und Chancen" aus dem Jahr 2013 an. Ihr Ziel ist es, über die jüngsten Entwicklungen und Trends im Bankensektor in Subsahara-Afrika zu...

With the advent of the digital revolution in the 1990s, productivity growth in the EU began to slip behind that in the US and other leading trading partners. This trend has undermined the comparative ability of European firms to compete and to provide rewarding jobs and a high standard of...

The first chapter aims at assessing the importance of political connections for the profitability of privately owned firms. The value of connections is estimated using a unique quasi-natural experiment: The September 2006 Thai coup d’état. Connections are found to be potentially very...

This study presents the macroeconomic context of sub-Saharan Africa and gives an overview of current developments and trends in the region’s banking sector. In addition, it discusses challenges to and opportunities for further development of the sub-Saharan African banking sector, including...