This paper investigates the impact of relationship lending on innovation (the probability to innovate and the intensity of innovation). Using a unique dataset providing detailed information on bank–firm relationships across European firms, we relate different proxies of relationship lending (soft information, long-lasting relationships, number of banks and share of the main bank) to innovation. We find a very strong and robust positive effect of ‘soft-information-intensive’ relationships, a less robust positive effect of long-lasting relationships and a negative effect of credit concentration as measured by the number of banking relationships. We also find that ‘soft-information-intensive’ relationships reduce credit rationing for innovative firms, while long-lasting relationships seem to favour innovation via other relational channels. These results raise some concern on the impact of screening processes based on automatic procedures, as those suggested by the Basel rules, on firms' capability to finance innovative activities in Europe
Using a novel measure of relationship lending based on the kind of information banks use to assess borrowers, we investigate the role of relationship lending in firms’ capital structure. Using a unique dataset of European manufacturing firms, we measure relationship lending based on three dimensions (closeness, soft information, exclusivity) and relate them to firms’ leverage. Overall our results support the hypothesis that supply factors matter. We find that the actual use of soft information increases leverage and only firms without soft information‐intensive relationships increase their leverage through multiple relationships. However, the effect of relationship lending on leverage varies across countries.
In this paper we model and empirically test the impact of banks' shift towards financial services on their screening activity and on the quality of their loans. We present a model where it is easier to sell services to positively evaluated loan applicants and we show that the larger the banks' income from services, the lower their optimal screening effort. This prediction is consistent with the empirical evidence based on a panel of European banks and showing that the quality of banks' loans decreases with the share of commission income (a proxy for income from services). Copyright � 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation � 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and The University of Manchester.
This study intends to deepen the analysis of the dynamics of income and employment in Europe by considering also the complex spatial consequences of the failure of the Fordist production model. Other studies found evidence of a polarisation process in regional unemployment rates and permanence in per capita income. We find evidence that Objective 1 regions account for such a result and that the differences between the patterns followed by regional growth and unemployment in Europe can be explained by country effects and by the features of two specific kinds of regions: old industrialised and urban and capital regions
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