Showing papers in "Applied Economics in 2015"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data from the Lending Club, which is one of the popular online P2P lending houses, to evaluate their credit risk and measure loan performances, finding that credit grade, debt-to-income ratio, FICO score and revolving line utilization play an important role in loan defaults.
Abstract: Online Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending has emerged recently. This micro loan market could offer certain benefits to both borrowers and lenders. Using data from the Lending Club, which is one of the popular online P2P lending houses, this article explores the P2P loan characteristics, evaluates their credit risk and measures loan performances. We find that credit grade, debt-to-income ratio, FICO score and revolving line utilization play an important role in loan defaults. Loans with lower credit grade and longer duration are associated with high mortality rate. The result is consistent with the Cox Proportional Hazard test which suggests that the hazard rate or the likelihood of the loan default increases with the credit risk of the borrowers. Finally, we find that higher interest rates charged on the high-risk borrowers are not enough to compensate for higher probability of the loan default. The Lending Club must find ways to attract high FICO score and high-income borrowers in order to sustain their businesses.
384 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conduct an econometric investigation of the existence of bubbles in the bitcoin market based on a recently developed technique that is robust in detecting bubbles, that of Phillips et al. (2013a).
Abstract: The creation of bitcoin heralded the arrival of digital or crypto-currency and has been regarded as a phenomenon. Since its introduction, it has experienced a meteoric rise in price and rapid growth accompanied by huge volatility swings, and also attracted plenty of controversies which even involved law enforcement agencies. Hence, claims abound that bitcoin has been characterized by bubbles ready to burst any time (e.g. the recent collapse of bitcoin’s biggest exchange, Mt Gox). This has earned plenty of coverage in the media but surprisingly not in the academic literature. We therefore fill this knowledge gap. We conduct an econometric investigation of the existence of bubbles in the bitcoin market based on a recently developed technique that is robust in detecting bubbles – that of Phillips et al. (2013a). Over the period 2010–2014, we detected a number of short-lived bubbles; most importantly, we found three huge bubbles in the latter part of the period 2011–2013 lasting from 66 to 106 days, with the ...
294 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a panel of 764 micro-finance institutions from 87 countries was used to analyze the trade-off between outreach and performance and showed that greater depth of outreach has a positive impact on the financial performance of an MFI.
Abstract: Using a panel of 764 microfinance institutions (MFIs) from 87 countries, this study analyses the possible trade-off between outreach and performance and shows that greater depth of outreach has a positive impact on the financial performance of an MFI. The empirical results of this study should dispel the widely held apprehension that the recent emphasis on attainment of financial sustainability by the MFIs could seriously impair their outreach efforts and shows that outreach to the poor can actually bolster financial performance.
108 citations
TL;DR: The authors analyzed the impact of oil price shocks on real output, inflation and real exchange rate in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia (ASEAN-5) using a Structural VAR model.
Abstract: This article analyses the impact of oil price shocks on real output, inflation and the real exchange rate in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia (ASEAN-5) using a Structural VAR model. The cointegration tests indicate that the macroeconomic variables of these countries are cointegrated and share common trends in the long run. The impulse response functions reveal that oil price fluctuations do not impact the ASEAN-5 economies in the long run and much of its effect is absorbed within five to six quarters. The variance decomposition results further assert that with a few exceptions oil price shocks do not explain a significant variation in any of the variables under consideration. We also identify a very unique pattern of response to oil price fluctuations between Malaysia and Singapore and between the Philippines and Thailand. The pairs exhibit a high degree of similarity in their responses; they do not share any commonalities across the group.
102 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the performance of socially responsible funds and conventional funds in different market segments during the period 1992-2012 and identify several switch points in the lead/lag relationship between the two investment styles over time.
Abstract: We investigate the performance of socially responsible funds (SRFs) and conventional funds (CFs) in different market (geographical area and class size) segments during the period 1992–2012. From an unbalanced sample of more than 22 000 funds, we define a matched sample using a beta-distance measure to match any SRF with the ‘nearest neighbour’ CF in terms of sensitivity to risk factors. Using this matching approach and a recursive analysis, we identify several switch points in the lead/lag relationship between the two investment styles over time in different market segments. A relevant finding of our analysis is that SRFs played an ‘insurance role’ outperforming CFs during the 2007 global financial crisis.
82 citations
Abstract: The article aims to investigate whether and how in the European Union (EU), the burst of the 2008 financial crisis affected misrepresentation of financial information due to earnings management By analysing a sample of 11 844 firm-year observations listed in the EU over the period 2006–2012, an event study methodology allows us to calculate and compare country-by-country abnormal accruals over the estimation period and over the event period Our findings validate our research hypothesis and suggest a decrease of misrepresentation in the large majority of the European countries after the burst of the financial crisis The results take part in the debate in the accounting literature about the change of earnings management over a financial crisis and have several implications for standard setters and regulators that could learn how the common incentives of entities to attract potential investors during a crisis could lead them to provide a high-quality financial reporting
72 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined whether a volatility/risk transmission exists between the Dow Jones Islamic stock and three conventional stock markets for the United States, Europe and Asia during the pre- and the in and post-2008 crisis periods.
Abstract: This study examines whether a volatility/risk transmission exists between the Dow Jones Islamic stock and three conventional stock markets for the United States, Europe and Asia during the pre- and the in- and post-2008 crisis periods. It also explores the volatility spillover dynamics between those markets and US Monetary policy, oil prices, global financial risk and uncertainty factors. The recently developed Hafner and Herwartz (2006)’s causality-in-variance test provides evidence of risk transfers between these seemingly different equity markets, indicating a contagion between them during the full sample and the subperiods. The volatility structure of these markets is dominated by short-run volatility in the first period and by high long-run volatility in the second period. The volatility impulse response analysis indicates a similar volatility transmission pattern although it is characterized by a more volatile and short-lived structure in the second period. It also appears that the Islamic equity ma...
70 citations
TL;DR: Empirical evidence is presented demonstrating that SAH indeed predicts future health, as measured by hospitalizations, out-of-hospital medical services and prescription drugs, and comparing the predictive power of SAH relative to administrative data and an extensive set of self-reported health measures.
Abstract: Despite concerns about reporting biases and interpretation, self-assessed health (SAH) remains the measure of health most used by researchers, in part reflecting its ease of collection and in part the observed correlation between SAH and objective measures of health. Using a unique Australian data set, which consists of survey data linked to administrative individual medical records, we present empirical evidence demonstrating that SAH indeed predicts future health, as measured by hospitalizations, out-of-hospital medical services and prescription drugs. Our large sample size allows very disaggregate analysis and we find that SAH predicts more serious, chronic illnesses better than less serious illnesses. Finally, we compare the predictive power of SAH relative to administrative data and an extensive set of self-reported health measures; SAH does not add to the predictive power of future utilization when the administrative data is included and improves prediction only marginally when the extensive survey-...
69 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a comprehensive and robust analysis of the drivers of renewable energy consumption for a panel of 64 countries, using both the static (Pooled OLS, Panel Fixed and Random Effects) and dynamic (difference and system GMM) panel data estimation approaches.
Abstract: We provide a comprehensive and robust analysis of the drivers of renewable energy consumption for a panel of 64 countries, using both the static (Pooled OLS, Panel Fixed and Random Effects) and dynamic (difference and system GMM) panel data estimation approaches. We show that the dynamic panel data model provides more efficient estimators than the static ones and that increases in per capita CO2 emissions and per capita trade with foreign partners mainly drive the changes in per capita renewable energy consumption. We also find limited evidence of oil price effects on renewable energy consumption, which reflects the fact that renewable energy is just a complement and not a perfect substitute of crude oil, at least in the short run.
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluate the appropriateness of a variety of existing forecasting techniques (17 methods) at providing accurate and statistically significant forecasts for gold price and report the results from the nine most competitive techniques.
Abstract: This article seeks to evaluate the appropriateness of a variety of existing forecasting techniques (17 methods) at providing accurate and statistically significant forecasts for gold price. We report the results from the nine most competitive techniques. Special consideration is given to the ability of these techniques to provide forecasts which outperforms the random walk (RW) as we noticed that certain multivariate models (which included prices of silver, platinum, palladium and rhodium, besides gold) were also unable to outperform the RW in this case. Interestingly, the results show that none of the forecasting techniques are able to outperform the RW at horizons of 1 and 9 steps ahead, and on average, the exponential smoothing model is seen providing the best forecasts in terms of the lowest root mean squared error over the 24-month forecasting horizons. Moreover, we find that the univariate models used in this article are able to outperform the Bayesian autoregression and Bayesian vector autoregressive models, with exponential smoothing reporting statistically significant results in comparison with the former models, and classical autoregressive and the vector autoregressive models in most cases.
68 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the impact of economic growth, oil consumption, financial development, industrialization and trade openness on carbon dioxide emissions, particularly in relation to major oil-consuming developing economies.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to empirically investigate the impact of economic growth, oil consumption, financial development, industrialization and trade openness on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, particularly in relation to major oil-consuming developing economies. This study utilizes annual data from 1980 to 2012 on a panel of 18 developing countries. Our empirical analysis employs robust panel cointegration tests and a vector error correction model (VECM) framework. The empirical results of three panel cointegration models suggest that there is a significant long-run equilibrium relationship among economic growth, oil consumption, financial development, industrialization, trade openness and CO2 emissions. Similarly, results from VECMs show that economic growth, oil consumption and industrialization have a short-run dynamic bidirectional feedback relationship with CO2 emissions. Long-run (error-correction term) bidirectional causalities are found among CO2 emissions, economic growth, oil consumption...
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of a pairs trading system based on various pairs selection methods is analyzed. But the authors focus on the distance method and do not consider the cointegration method.
Abstract: Pairs trading is a popular dollar-neutral trading strategy. This article, using the components of the S&P 500 index, explores the performance of a pairs trading system based on various pairs selection methods. Whereas large empirical applications in the literature focus on the distance method, this article also deals with well-known statistical and econometric techniques such as stationarity and cointegration which make the trading system much more demanding from a computational point of view. Trades are initiated when stocks deviate from their equilibrium. Our results confirm, after controlling for risk and transaction costs, that the distance method generates insignificant excess returns. While a pairs selection following the stationarity criterion leads to a weak performance, this article reveals that cointegration provides a high, stable and robust return.
TL;DR: The elasticity of interfuel substitution between renewable and non-renewable energy is key to establishing effective climate change policy as mentioned in this paper, which is the first study to estimate the elasticity for substitution between different fossil fuels and renewable resources.
Abstract: The elasticity of interfuel substitution between renewable and nonrenewable energy is key to establishing effective climate change policy. This is the first study to estimate the elasticity of substitution between different fossil fuels and renewable resources. We used 12 manufacturing industry-level datasets for the OECD countries from 1995 to 2009. We found a complementary relationship from nonrenewable energy to renewable energy in eight industries, whereas a substitute relationship was maintained for four industries. In particular, the food and pulp industries had a strong complementary relationship.
TL;DR: The authors empirically tested the hypothesis that corruption has a negative effect on tourism and found that tourists are more likely to travel to countries where these additional costs do not need to be incurred.
Abstract: This study empirically tests the hypothesis that corruption has a negative effect on tourism. Having to pay bribes while on holiday or a business trip increases the costs of travelling to a country where corruption is prevalent. Tourists are thus more likely to travel to countries where these additional costs do not need to be incurred. This hypothesis is tested using a panel data set of over 100 countries and 16 years. The results indicate that a 1-point increase in the Corruption Perception Index (implying a decrease in corruption) results in a 2% to 7% increase in tourist inflows. In addition, tourist inflows rise with GDP per capita, openness and growth and are higher in countries with a temperate climate.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed whether improving gender diversity in boardrooms improves firms' economic performance and found that promoting women has a significant and positive effect on economic performance, after accounting for the endogeneity of diversity.
Abstract: This article analyzes whether improving gender diversity in boardrooms improves firms' economic performance. In the context of French CAC40-listed companies between 2008 and 2012, this research uses instrumental variable panel regressions, including production frontier estimates, to arrive at two key results. First, gender diversity in boards depends on firms' attributes, including their previous gender promotion strategies. Second, promoting women in boardrooms has a significant and positive effect on economic performance, after accounting for the endogeneity of diversity. Gender diversity even reduces corporate inefficiencies and enables firms to come closer to their optimal performance.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data from Austria and Switzerland to study the relationship between competition format, championship uncertainty and attendance demand empirically, and found that a team still in contention to win the championship positively affects attendance, while it is not the specificity of the competition format that per se contributes to less championship uncertainty.
Abstract: To increase the number of regular season games, small football leagues are often organized as quadruple round robin tournaments with teams playing each other four times. Theoretically, however, the more games played, the less uncertain is the championship race, reducing fan interest in the league. This article uses data from Austria and Switzerland to study the relationship between competition format, championship uncertainty and attendance demand empirically. Results suggest that a team still in contention to win the championship positively affects attendance, while it is not the specificity of the competition format that per se contributes to less championship uncertainty.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluate consumer behavior related to informational messages about honey that is produced locally, domestically and internationally and find that consumers demonstrate greater demand for locally produced honey, especially when provided information about negative aspects of internationally produced honey that include adulteration.
Abstract: How to best target and attract niche market consumers is an important marketing problem for producers of specialty agricultural products. It is particularly an issue in the honey market where consumers increasingly face media messages regarding threats to honey bee health, honey adulteration and health benefits of locally produced honey. Using auction experiments, this research evaluates consumer behaviour related to informational messages about honey that is produced locally, domestically and internationally. Results from 115 adult consumers show that consumers’ demand for honey varies significantly based on the geographic location of the honey’s production, product packaging and the information they have about the product. Consumers demonstrate greater demand for locally produced honey, especially when provided information about negative aspects of internationally produced honey that include adulteration. This shows that such negative media attention on specialty products offers small producers an oppor...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used available methods for testing macro models to evaluate a model of China over the period from Deng Xiaoping's reforms up until the crisis period, and the overall models are tested by Likelihood or Indirect Inference methods, the New Keynesian model is rejected in favour of one with a fair-sized competitive product market sector.
Abstract: We use available methods for testing macro models to evaluate a model of China over the period from Deng Xiaoping’s reforms up until the crisis period. Bayesian ranking methods are heavily influenced by controversial priors on the degree of price/wage rigidity. When the overall models are tested by Likelihood or Indirect Inference methods, the New Keynesian model is rejected in favour of one with a fair-sized competitive product market sector. This model behaves quite a lot more ‘flexibly’ than the New Keynesian.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the relationship between renewable energy consumption and job creation in 80 countries spanning the period 1990-2013 and the advanced generation of unit root, cointegration and nonlinear Granger causality methodological approaches in panel data.
Abstract: This article contributes to the discussion on the dynamic nexus of renewable energy consumption and unemployment by incorporating nonlinear cointegration and causality analysis. Using a sample of 80 countries spanning the period 1990–2013 and the advanced generation of unit root, cointegration and nonlinear Granger causality methodological approaches in panel data, we obtain mixed results about the impact of renewable energy consumption on unemployment. Although the total findings document a positive impact of renewable energy consumption on unemployment, disaggregated data across specific regions, such as Asia and Latin America, highlight the favourable effect on unemployment, implying that the effect of renewable energy consumption on jobs creation depends on the cost of adopting renewable energy technologies and energy efficiencies that seem to vary across the regions under investigation.
TL;DR: In this article, an enhanced regime-switching model was proposed to investigate the relationship between oil price surges and stock market cycles in five oil-dependent countries and found that stock market returns strongly exhibit a regime switching behavior, but they react differently to increases in the price of oil.
Abstract: We propose an enhanced regime-switching model to investigate the relationships between oil price surges and stock market cycles in five oil-dependent countries Our model accounts for the joint effects of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent oil markets and simultaneously captures asymmetry, volatility persistence and regime shifts contained in the underlying financial data We find that stock market returns strongly exhibit a regime-switching behaviour, but they react differently to the increases in the price of oil More precisely, the conditional volatility of studied stock markets during the bear market phases is found to be less affected by oil price surges than during the bull market phases Whether the effects of oil shocks are positive or negative depends greatly on the degree of reliance on imported oil, the share of the cost of oil in the national income and the degree of improvement in energy efficiency of a given country Finally, the relatively opposite effects of the WTI and Brent oil
TL;DR: In this article, the weak-form informational efficient hypothesis for three major Islamic stock markets (world, emerging and developed) was investigated and different parametric and nonparametric tests were applied to investigate efficiency in the short and long horizons.
Abstract: This article investigates the weak-form informational efficient hypothesis for three major Islamic stock markets (world, emerging and developed). Unlike previous studies, we applied different parametric and nonparametric tests to investigate efficiency in the short and long horizons. Using recent data over the period May 2002–June 2012, we developed a time-series analysis of Islamic stock price dynamics in the context of the recent global financial crisis (2008–2009). Our analysis offers two interesting results. First, emerging Islamic stock markets seem to be less efficient than developed Islamic markets, suggesting interesting investment opportunities and diversification benefits from this region in both the short run and the long run. Second, nonrejection of the cointegration hypothesis for developed Islamic markets and the global conventional stock market point to efficiency for the former in the long term, even if it is inefficient in the short term. This finding has at least two economic and politic...
TL;DR: In this paper, the long-term relationship between CBs' term-deposit rates (TDRs) and participation banks' (PBs) TDR in Turkey is investigated.
Abstract: The nexus between Islamic banks’ returns on term deposits (participation accounts) and conventional banks’ (CBs) interest rates on term deposits is one of the controversies with regard to Islamic finance. The obvious correlation between two sides is considered a convergence of Islamic banking to the conventional mode and the breach of the ‘risk sharing’, the underlying principle of Islamic finance. The aim of this study is to econometrically investigate the long-term relationship between CBs’ term-deposit rates (TDRs) and participation banks’ (PBs) TDR in Turkey. We undertake an elaborate analysis of the dependency of each PBs in Turkey on interest rates utilizing the most recent econometric techniques including Maki cointegration tests with multiple breaks and frequency domain causality tests. Findings show that TDRs of three PBs are significantly cointegrated with those of CBs, while one is not. In addition, permanent causality is found from CBs to all PBs.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the relationship between real crude oil price changes and the Chinese real stock market at the industry level using monthly data over the period 1994:03 to 2013:12.
Abstract: This article investigates the relationship between real crude oil price changes and the Chinese real stock market at the industry level. Our study uses monthly data over the period 1994:03 to 2013:12. Based on input–output (IO) tables, this article will explore more details for the driving factors of sensitivity to oil price changes. We divide these driving factors into cost- and demand-side dependence. Empirical results reveal that sensitivity varies across different industries and periods based on structural breaks and asymmetric effects of oil price changes. Furthermore, some industries seemingly not directly affected by oil are sensitive to the real oil price changes. Finally, using a penalized quantile regression for panel data, we find that these two factors significantly affect lower, but not upper, quantile of sensitivity.
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of alternative estimators of the gravity equation when zero trade flows result from economically-based data-generating processes with heteroscedastic residuals and potentially-omitted variables was evaluated.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the performance of alternative estimators of the gravity equation when zero trade flows result from economically-based data-generating processes with heteroscedastic residuals and potentially-omitted variables. In a standard Monte Carlo analysis, the paper finds that this combination can create seriously biased estimates in gravity models with frequencies of zero frequently observed in real-world data, and that Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood models can be important in solving this problem. Standard threshold–Tobit estimators perform well in a Tobit-based data-generating process only if the analysis deals with the heteroscedasticity problem. When the data are generated by a Heckman sample selection model, the Zero-Inflated Poisson model appears to have the lowest bias. When the data are generated by a Helpman, Melitz, and Rubinstein-type model with heterogeneous firms, a Zero-Inflated Poisson estimator including firm numbers appears to provide the best results. Testing on real-world data for total trade throws up additional puzzles with truncated Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood and Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood estimators being very similar, and Zero-Inflated Poisson and truncated Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood identical. Repeating the Monte Carlo analysis taking into account the high frequency of very small predicted trade flows in real-world data reconciles these findings and leads to specific recommendations for estimators.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided new evidence from the Business Longitudinal Database, an Australian data set with unusually rich information on the causes and consequences of skill shortages in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Abstract: Skill shortages are often portrayed as a major problem for advanced economies, yet there is surprisingly little empirical evidence about how firms adjust to skill shortages and their associated effects on firm performance. This article provides new evidence from the Business Longitudinal Database, an Australian data set with unusually rich information on the causes and consequences of skill shortages in small- and medium-sized enterprises. We document the range of alternative strategies that firms adopt when responding to skill shortages and show that certain types of adaptation are used in some cases and not in others, depending on the type of shortage encountered and other attributes of the firm. Further, we show that certain types of skill shortage are more likely to be long-lasting and difficult to resolve, while others are alleviated relatively quickly with minimal adjustment. Our findings yield lessons for the skill utilization strategies of firms and for the labour market policies of governments.
TL;DR: In this paper, a new generalized method of moments estimator that relies on robust instruments to estimate panel data regression models containing errors in variables is introduced, which can be generalized for the panel data framework using higher moments and cumulants as instruments.
Abstract: Econometricians have long recognized the need to account in some way for measurement errors, specification errors and endogeneity to ensure that the ordinary least squares estimator is consistent. This article introduces a new generalized method of moments estimator that relies on robust instruments to estimate panel data regression models containing errors in variables. We show how this GMM approach can be generalized for the panel data framework using higher moments and cumulants as instruments. The new instruments, engineered for greater robustness, are proposed to tackle the pervasive problem of weak instruments.
TL;DR: The authors discusses the central macroeconomic claims that are made in Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-first Century and shows that these claims are not only logically flawed but also contradicted by his own data.
Abstract: This article discusses the central macroeconomic claims that are made in Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-first Century. The article aims to show that Piketty’s contentions are not only logically flawed but also contradicted by his own data.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the macroeconomic announcements effects on Standard&Poor's500 and oil prices and provided evidence for a significant impact of the US macroeconomic news on oil prices.
Abstract: The paper applies an event study methodologyaims to investigate the macroeconomic announcements effects on Standard&Poor’s500 and oil prices. Our results provide evidence for a significant impact of the US macroeconomic news on oil prices. This impact is split into two components, namely the direct effect (common response) and indirect effect (volatility transmission). Altogether our results show that the volatility transmission is bidirectional. Not only a significant volatility transmission from the oil market to the US stock market is revealed, but also a high volatility transmission is recorded from the oil market to the stock market especially after the release of consumption indicators.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the dynamics of unemployment, low pay and skills under-utilization, including differences by gender and education, and show that skills mismatch may have similar detrimental effects.
Abstract: There is a substantial literature on the scarring effects of unemployment on future employment prospects and a smaller one on the scarring effects of low pay, but the possibility that skills mismatch, in the form of skills under-utilization, may have similar detrimental effects has not been considered before. We use the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia panel to investigate the dynamics of unemployment, low pay and skills under-utilization, including differences by gender and education. We show that, in addition to earlier evidence on wage penalties and reduced job satisfaction, skills under-utilization scars future employment prospects in a way similar to that of low pay.
TL;DR: In this article, the extent to which SMEs avail of a wider range of funding options and how their use differs across firms and countries, finding that firms are currently using two or three sources of finance to fund their operations and have had previous experience of other types of funding.
Abstract: 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 article looks at the extent to which SMEs avail of a wider range of funding options and how their use differs across firms and countries. Across all countries, we find that firms are currently using two or three sources of finance to fund their operations and have had previous experience of other types of funding. There are some noticeable differences across countries with peripheral economies generally being less diversified. Differences across firm size and age groups are more marked than cross-country variation, with smaller and younger firms significantly more reliant on a limited set of finance types and older, larger firms having more diversified financial structures. Looking at individual sources of financing, we find that trade credit and informal sources of finance are extremely prevalent across all countries, with Irish firms being particul...