Financing Micro Firms in Europe: An Empirical Analysis

The vast majority of firms in Europe are micro firms. Still, we know little about their financing patterns. Our paper aims to close this gap. Based on a large European firm-level data set, we find that micro firms differ in their financing patterns from small and medium-sized companies. Our empirical results show that micro firms are more likely to use internal financing instruments, whereas they are less likely to use state subsidies, trade credit or asset-based financing instruments. Furthermore, micro firms differ from medium-sized firms by using more short-term debt (credit card overdrafts, credit lines and bank overdrafts). The implications of these findings for micro firms and policy makers are discussed.