Many countries experienced a residential credit bubble prior to the global financial crisis; however, by most criteria, the Irish residential and financial sector witnessed one of the most significant imbalances across contemporary western economies. The Irish property market had experienced a...

Small and medium enterprises have been shown to rely mainly on banks for funding and, unlike larger firms, rarely have direct access to capital markets. This paper looks at the extent to which SMEs avail of a wider range of funding options and how their use differs across firms and countries....

The years before the financial crisis saw a dramatic build-up in private debt levels in several countries and this increase was particularly marked in Ireland. In this paper, we look at whether outstanding debt taken out by small and medium sized enterprises in Ireland constrains current...