Based on survey data covering 6,547 firms in 10 Central and Eastern European countries we examine the impact of the banking sector environment, as well as the institutional and regulatory environment, on credit constrained firms. We find that small and foreign-owned firms are less likely to...

Venture capital can be a lifeline to innovative and growth-oriented start-ups and small businesses in need of external capital. In this ECMI Research Report, the author argues that the recently proposed changes to the Regulation on European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA) fail to address three...

Bank lending is the most common source of external finance for SMEs, but it doesn't suit all of them. Young, innovative and fast-growing SMEs, in particular, do not have the required cash flows and collateral for bank financing and need alternatives to unlock their growth potential. Market-based...

Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, in particular interest rate derivatives (IRD), have grown significantly in recent decades and now constitute a systemically important component of financial services activity. The UK plays a central role in clearing derivatives, both at a global and EU...

In this paper, I study the correlation between stock and bond returns. We can define flight- to-quality from stocks to bonds as the decrease in the correlation between the two assets in falling stock markets periods (bear state), since the two assets returns move in the opposite direction. On...

Venture capital can be a lifeline to innovative and growth-oriented start-ups and small businesses in need of external capital. In this ECMI Research Report, the author argues that the recently proposed changes to the Regulation on European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA) fail to address three...