In this paper we look at the role of pre-payment (in the context of prepayment metering) for household electricity consumption. Using a matching approach, we find that households paying their electricity up-front tend to consume no less electricity than households paying ex post. This is despite...

It is a well established fact that electricity use increases with income. What is less well known is that - despite the positive correlation between electricity use and income - a significant portion of low-income households consume very large amounts of electricity. In this paper, we make a...

This paper uses a unique experiment conducted as part of the Investment Survey of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide novel evidence on firms' preferences over loan characteristics and the relation between terms of credit and investment decisions. The design of the experiment allows...

Energy audits are key to increase investments in energy efficiency, as they allow to overcome the 'information gap'- one of the biggest obstacles to this type of investment. However, on average only 30% of SMEs said to have carried out an energy audit between 2015 and 2018. This paper assesses...

Promoting investment in energy efficiency has become increasingly important over the past decade. It is heavily discussed in the context of the EU 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, and at the core of the EU 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. While the budget allocation and the energy...

This paper reviews the data quality of the EIB Group Survey on Investment and Investment Finance (EIBIS). It finds that the chosen sampling framework (the Bureau van Dijk ORBIS database) captures the business population of interest well and that there is little evidence ofselection bias during...

Infrastructure investment in Europe has been adversely affected by the economic crisis, undermining both the immediate recovery and longer-term growth potential. This paper discusses recent trends before focusing on how transport infrastructure - arguably the hardest hit sector during the crisis...

Why don't non-financial companies in Europe issue more equity? Using experimental data on firms from Europe, this paper analyses how firms trade-off between debt and external equity financing. It finds that firms are willing to pay a substantial premium on debt when presented with an equity...