Download or read book EIB Working Paper 2022 01 written by Péter Harasztosi and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the COVID-19 crisis, the European corporate ecosystem avoided major disruptions, and corporate bankruptcy rates even declined. This outcome mostly resulted from the strength of support from monetary, financial supervisory and fiscal policies. Using the 2021 vintage of the EIB Investment Survey (EIBIS) matched with balance sheet data on firms' profits and losses, this paper investigates what has driven the allocation of fiscal policy support and the impact of this support during the investment recovery. It finds that support was largely directed towards firms that were most affected by the crisis in terms of lost sales, and was not tilted firms already weak before the crisis. It also shows that the firms that benefitted from this support tend to be more optimistic in their investment plans, especially with regard to digital technologies.

Download or read book EIB Working Paper 2022 13 written by European Investment Bank and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Past research suggests that economic crisis lead to a reallocation of resources from less productive to more productive firms, with many firms taking action to boost their own productivity. This paper uses data from the EIB Investment Survey and the ORBIS database to analyse how the COVID-19 crisis affected the level of employment and digitalisation efforts of European firms. Moreover, it examines how these changes relate to the pre-crisis performance of firms, in terms of productivity, digitalisation and growth. It finds that firms were less likely to reduce their number of employees, both in the short and in the long term, if they exhibited higher productivity or higher growth, or were in highly digitalised sectors. It also finds that firms were more likely to increase their use of digital technologies during the crisis if they were already relatively advanced users of digital technologies.

Download or read book COVID 19 and the Resilience of European Firms written by Mercedes Teruel and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We analyse how the COVID-19 crisis impacted firms' employment levels and digitalisation efforts differently depending on their pre-crisis productivity, digitalisation and growth performance. We match the EIB Investment Survey with firm-level financial statements from the ORBIS database for 27 EU Member States and the United Kingdom. Following the sales decline during the crisis, we show that: (1) Higher productivity firms are less prone to reduce the number of employees both in the short and in the long term; (2) High-growth enterprises are also less prone to reduce the number of employees in the long term; (3) Firms in highly digitalised sectors are less likely to reduce the number of employees; (4) Firms are more likely to increase their use of digital technologies, especially those that were already more digitalised before the crisis.

Download or read book EIB Working Paper 2022 13 COVID 19 and the resilience of European firms written by European Investment Bank and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Past research suggests that economic crisis lead to a reallocation of resources from less productive to more productive firms, with many firms taking action to boost their own productivity. This paper uses data from the EIB Investment Survey and the ORBIS database to analyse how the COVID-19 crisis affected the level of employment and digitalisation efforts of European firms. Moreover, it examines how these changes relate to the pre-crisis performance of firms, in terms of productivity, digitalisation and growth. It finds that firms were less likely to reduce their number of employees, both in the short and in the long term, if they exhibited higher productivity or higher growth, or were in highly digitalised sectors. It also finds that firms were more likely to increase their use of digital technologies during the crisis if they were already relatively advanced users of digital technologies.

Download or read book Investment Expectations by Vulnerable European Firms written by Alexander Coad and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The effect of the COVID shock on European economies has been severe and also unequal, with some firms being affected much more strongly than others. To improve the effectiveness of policy interventions, policymakers need to understand which types of vulnerable firms have been suddenly pushed into dire circumstances. We seek to fill this important gap in our knowledge by providing evidence from the EIBIS (European Investment Bank Investment Survey, 2016-2020) on how the COVID shock has affected the investment activity and investment-related framework conditions of vulnerable firms. While data on actual investment activity post-COVID is not yet available to us, we focus on investment expectations. We exploit the fact that the same questions relating to investment expectations have been asked in several previous survey waves, which enables a difference-indifferences approach to investigate how investment expectations might have suddenly changed, for vulnerable groups of firms, immediately after the onset of the COVID crisis. We focus on 4 groups of vulnerable firms: High-Growth Enterprises (HGEs), young and small firms, R&D investors and nonsubsidiary firms. R&D investors are more likely to be pessimistic about investment plans as a consequence of the COVID shock, and (similarly) HGEs are less likely to be optimistic about investment plans. R&D investors are less likely to be optimistic about the availability of internal finance, while HGEs and R&D investors are more likely to be pessimistic about the availability of external finance. Subsidiary firms, interestingly, are more likely to report a decrease in expected investment, although this could be part of a conservative group-level strategy and coordinated group-level reduction in investment, however that is not caused by any detectable lack of access to (internal or external) finance. Event study graphs generally confirm our regression results.

Download or read book EIB Working Paper 2023 02 Trade Disruptions in Europe written by EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using firm-level data from the EIB Investment Survey, this paper describes how firms in the European Union have been affected by recent trade-related shocks, such as disruptions to logistics or access to materials, and how they have responded to them. The responses of firms differ. They include diversification of trade partners and refocusing on domestic markets and suppliers. The paper looks at the differences between firms that help to explain these different reactions. It finds that younger, larger, more productive firms are more likely to respond actively to trade shocks and disruptions, especially through diversification of trade partners. Less productive and less innovative firms, meanwhile, are more likely to be discouraged from direct engagement in international trade.

Download or read book How Much is Too Much written by Sanne Zwart and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public debt is a very weak predictor of a country's credit rating if a country's other features are not taken into account. However, everything else equal, more public debt is associated with worse ratings. This paper explores the relationship between debt and sovereign creditworthiness by explicitly modelling the debt thresholds associated with rating changes. It finds that the impact of an increase in public debt is highly non-linear and crucially depends on a country's economic situation. In particular, low levels of GDP per capita are associated with a smaller range of possible ratings than higher levels. Hence, for countries with a higher GDP per capita, a change in debt levels is thus more likely to result in a rating change. Overall, the non-linear relationship between debt and creditworthiness is substantial, and accounting for it improves the performance of sovereign credit rating models significantly.

Download or read book Estimating Conditional Treatment Effects of EIB Lending to SMEs in Europe written by Alessandro Barbera and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We estimate heterogeneous treatment effects of the EIB financial support on European firms between 2008 and 2015. The relevant control groups are created with propensity score matching and the effects are estimated in a difference-in-differences framework, controlling for firm-level and country-sector-year fixed effects. We find that the positive effects of EIBsupported lending on job creation and investments were larger for smaller and younger firms. Moreover, we find evidence that longer maturities and more advantageous loan pricing are associated with larger employment and investment effects, while no larger impact is observed for larger loan volumes. Overall, the results suggest that benefits of the EIB support are rather observed on an intensive, rather than on an extensive, margin.

Download or read book EIB Working Paper 2022 15 written by European Investment Bank and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Financial integration, broadly defined as the intensity of cross-border linkages between financial markets, has the potential to channel capital to where it is most productive, bringing many benefits. However, some financial integration is cyclical, increasing economic upswings and declining during down-turns. Of more long-term benefit is financial integration driven by structural factors such as the reductions in exchange rate risk and the increased regulatory or supervisory convergence associated with the establishment of a currency union, such as Europe's Economic and Monetary Union. This paper presents a new indicator of de facto financial integration in the European Union. Analysing this indicator alongside different financial and macroeconomic variables makes it possible to separate the impact of cyclical boom-bust shocks from the influence structural factors. It shows that increasing structural financial integration tends to improve risk absorption and reduce income disparities among European countries. However, it also suggests that most of the movements in the indicator reflect business cycle dynamics, rather than structural integration. These results highlight the need to develop further policies to foster structural financial integration in the EU".

Download or read book How to Foster Climate Innovation in the European Union written by Julie Delanote and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using survey data on climate innovation, we map climate innovation patterns across different regions and technologies, and study the cooperation, protection and reach of climate innovation. Our analysis confirms that there is a strong link between climate innovation and firm performance. We nevertheless observe that European firms seem to suffer from the availability of finance. If European policymakers want to create more successful firms in the climate sector, they should strengthen policies that aim to reduce regulatory uncertainty and work actively to improve access-to finance conditions, in particular for start-ups.

Download or read book Corporate Training and Skill Gaps written by Konstantinos Pouliakas and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: European firms have increasingly invested in training of employees but differences across countries and types of firms remain - and the COVID-19 shock may have exacerbated them. This report analyses European firms' investment in training over the last six years examining trends, factors supporting training investment as well as the impact of the COVID-19 shock. We base the empirical analysis on a unique dataset, the European Investment Bank's Investment Survey (EIBIS), which allows tracking corporate training investment on a yearly basis. To understand dynamics underpinning firms' decision to invest in their workforce, we examine transition patterns and employ dynamic panel data estimation. Finally, we analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on firms' investment in workforce training and transitions in and out of training. We find that despite a slow upward trend in training investment observed in recent years, supported by labour market recovery, differences across firms and countries have persisted. The pandemic risks aggravating these, through its asymmetric impact on labour markets and differences in corporate innovation, firm structure and resilience. While firm training can be an important element for firms and their workforce to adjust to the post-pandemic environment, asymmetries in training investment could make it harder for those already lagging. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications.

Download or read book Hot Off the Press written by Chukwuma Dim and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We develop a sovereign default risk index using natural language processing techniques and 10 million news articles covering over 100 countries. The index is a highfrequency measure of countries' default risk, particularly for those lacking marketbased measures: it correlates with sovereign CDS spreads, predicts rating downgrades, and reflects default risk information not fully captured by CDS spreads. We assess the influence of sovereign default concerns on equity markets and find that spikes in the index are negatively associated with same-week market returns, which reverses over the next week, indicating that investors might overreact to default concerns. Equity markets' reaction to default concerns is more pronounced and persistent for countries with tight fiscal constraints. The response to global, compared to country-specific, default concerns is much stronger, underlining the relevance of global "push" factors for local asset prices.

Download or read book Estimating Financial Integration in Europe written by Alfred Lake and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We construct a new indicator of de facto financial integration in the EU. The resulting indicator is pro-cyclical as it evolves along the cyclical pattern of economic activity in the European Union. It is then appended to a set of relevant financial and macroeconomic variables, within a FAVAR framework, to allow us to separate the impact of cyclical boom-bust shocks from structural integration shocks. Increasing structural financial integration tends to improve risk absorption and reduce income disparities among European countries. However, our analysis suggests that most of the movements in the indicator reflect business cycle dynamics, not proper integration. Given the estimated beneficial effects of stronger structural financial integration, these results highlight the need to develop further policies to foster it in the EU.

Download or read book Determinants of the Exchange Rate Its Volatility and Currency Crash Risk in Africa s Low and Lower Middle income Countries written by Anjelo Okot and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper investigates the determinants of nominal exchange rates, their volatility, and crash risk in Africa's lower and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs). It combines macro-panel estimations for 15 African LLMICs with floating or lightly managed exchange rates, with insights from 13 semi-structured interviews with 17 foreign exchange market participants in six case study countries. It shows the important role African LLMICs' distinct productive and export structure, concentrated in a few agricultural and mineral-based commodities, and recent financial integration for exchange rate determination. In particular, whereas productive factors such as terms of trade, export concentration, and export prices are found to have a significant impact on the exchange rate level and volatility, financial factors including the interest rate differential, international market conditions, and short-term financial flows, matter for the likelihood of currencies to experience sudden and large exchange rate movements.

Download or read book A Structural Analysis of Foreign Exchange Markets in Sub Saharan Africa written by Annina Kaltenbrunner and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper presents detailed insights into the microstructural characteristics of several African Lower and Lower-Middle Income Countries (LLMICs) foreign exchange markets and the implications of these characteristics for macroeconomic management. It draws on 13 semi-structured interviews with 17 foreign exchange experts in central banks, banks, non-bank financial institutions, and research institutions in selected case studies (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Zambia) and the City of London. The results show that whilst most case study countries have functioning foreign exchange interbank markets, these markets are oftentimes characterised by low, volatile and "lumpy" liquidity. These liquidity dynamics and uncertainty about future foreign exchange flows can lead to FX hoarding among foreign exchange market participants, further depriving the official foreign exchange market of liquidity. Moreover, they provide those with access to FX liquidity with significant market power and the potential to affect price dynamics. These microstructural characteristics, in turn have meant that central banks in African LLMICs remain key agents in foreign exchange markets to manage scarce and volatile liquidity patterns. At the same time though, these microstructural weaknesses complicate central banks' ability to deal with volatile foreign exchange availability and structural depreciation pressures. Whereas hoarding behaviour reduces the central bank's access to foreign exchange, low trust in domestic currencies puts serious limits on the extent of nominal depreciations central banks will be able and willing to tolerate. Overall, the results show the difficulties of moving towards floating exchange rates in the context of African LLMICs, characterised by concentrated export structures, low trust in their currencies, and shallow domestic financial markets.

Download or read book How Do Firms Cope with Losses from Extreme Weather Events written by Emanuela Benincasa and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We document the investment and financing decisions of firms that experience monetary losses due to extreme weather events. Our sample covers firms operating in 41 economies, mainly emerging and developing markets. Consistent with the need to either replenish damaged capital or to adapt to climate change, firms hit by extreme weather are more likely to invest in long-term assets. In addition, they are more likely to integrate climate-friendly measures in their production processes. Although these firms have higher needs for bank credit, they are not more likely to be credit constrained than the average firm. Nonetheless, they face higher loan rejection rates and they are more leveraged than otherwise comparable firms. This suggests that climate change has the potential to erode the quality of firm balance sheets over time.

Download or read book Usability of Bank Capital Buffers The Role of Market Expectations written by José Abad and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2022-01-28 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the COVID shock, supervisors encouraged banks to use capital buffers to support the recovery. However, banks have been reluctant to do so. Provided the market expects a bank to rebuild its buffers, any draw-down will open up a capital shortfall that will weigh on its share price. Therefore, a bank will only decide to use its buffers if the value creation from a larger loan book offsets the costs associated with a capital shortfall. Using market expectations, we calibrate a framework for assessing the usability of buffers. Our results suggest that the cases in which the use of buffers make economic sense are rare in practice.