Katarzyna Bańkowska
- 17 June 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 4, 2020Details
- Abstract
- This box presents evidence on the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based on the results of the 22nd round of the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE).
- JEL Code
- D22 : Microeconomics→Production and Organizations→Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G32 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Value of Firms, Goodwill
- 16 June 2020
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - ARTICLEEconomic Bulletin Issue 4, 2020Details
- Abstract
- Using information derived from the survey on the access to finance of enterprises (SAFE), this article provides an overview of the changes in the financing conditions experienced by euro area companies over the last ten years. The focus is on non-financial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Following the Global Financial Crisis and during the subsequent euro area sovereign debt crisis, access to external finance for these firms was severely impaired. This was followed by a steady improvement in financial conditions, particularly due to support from the accommodative monetary policy measures introduced since 2012. Despite a gradual improvement since the mid-2010s, challenges for SMEs’ access to finance remained, for example in terms of funding diversification, even before the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis started at the end of 2019. The outbreak of the recent pandemic raised some new, severe and immediate challenges for SMEs in terms of their access to financing. An accompanying box in this issue of the Economic Bulletin summarises the results of the latest SAFE survey, which took place in March and April 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
- JEL Code
- D22 : Microeconomics→Production and Organizations→Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G32 : Financial Economics→Corporate Finance and Governance→Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Value of Firms, Goodwill
- 27 December 2019
- ECONOMIC BULLETIN - BOXEconomic Bulletin Issue 8, 2019Details
- Abstract
- This box reports the responses to an ad hoc question in the latest Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE) regarding the export activities of euro area small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In general, just over a third of euro area SMEs exported goods or services outside their domestic market. About half of those exported outside Europe, of which 60% to North America and 40% to China. Comparing sectors, export activities seem to be quite strong among SMEs in the industrial sector, followed by trade and services, but more limited in construction. Exporters, particularly those exporting outside Europe, tend to have a strong equity base and use trade credit. They also make more use of subsidised loans and tend to be more innovative.
- JEL Code
- E24 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy→Employment, Unemployment, Wages, Intergenerational Income Distribution, Aggregate Human Capital
- 18 December 2015
- STATISTICS PAPER SERIES - No. 12Details
- Abstract
- Non-response is a common issue affecting the vast majority of surveys, and low non-response is usually associated with higher quality. However, efforts to convince unwilling respondents to participate in a survey might not necessarily result in a better picture of the target population. It can lead to higher, rather than lower, non-response bias, for example if incentives are effective only for particular groups, e.g. in a business survey, if the incentives tend to attract mainly larger companies or enterprises encountering financial difficulties. We investigate the impact of non-response in the European Commission and European Central Bank Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE), which collects evidence on the financing conditions faced by European small and medium-sized enterprises compared with those of large firms. This survey, which has been conducted by telephone biannually since 2009 by the European Central Bank and the European Commission, provides a valuable means of searching for this kind of bias, given the high heterogeneity of response propensities across countries. The study relies on so-called
- JEL Code
- C81 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology, Computer Programs→Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data, Data Access
C83 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology, Computer Programs→Survey Methods, Sampling Methods
D22 : Microeconomics→Production and Organizations→Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
Annexes