Italy has yet to recover from the economic consequences of the financial and sovereign debt crisis that began more than a decade ago. In addition to losing 1.4 million jobs across the manufacturing and construction sectors, new industries driving growth across the EU, such as knowledge-intensive...

Italien hat sich gut zehn Jahre nach der Finanz- und Staatsschuldenkrise nicht von deren wirtschaftlichen Folgen erholt. Verantwortlich sind zum einen die traditionellen Wachstumstreiber Italiens, nämlich das verarbeitende Gewerbe und der Bausektor, die beide einen Rückgang von jeweils 700 000...

European and German economic policy are increasingly shifting their emphasis to small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2008, the European Union adopted the Small Business Act with the goal of creating better underlying conditions for smaller businesses. The German government is also...

Private businesses' nominal value added in Greece has fallen by 38 percent over the last ten years. Micro firms were hit particularly hard. Despite efforts to stabilize the macroeconomic environment, there are only weak signs of recovery. Future prospects are not much better, as-with the...

Die Auswertung neu verfügbarer Daten zeigt, dass die Wertschöpfung griechischer Privatunternehmen in den letzten zehn Jahren nominal um 38 Prozent eingebrochen ist. Besonders stark traf es dabei Kleinstunternehmen. Trotz aller Bemühungen, das makroökonomische Umfeld zu stabilisieren, hat...

We empirically examine the efficacy of various incentives of microlending contracts such as joint-liability or group access to future loans. We find that joint liability induces a group formation of low risk borrowers. Furthermore, the incentive system leads to peer measures between the...