Financial theory and practice 

About: Financial theory and practice is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Value-added tax & Indirect tax. It has an ISSN identifier of 1845-9757. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 409 publications have been published receiving 3784 citations.

Determinants of non-performing loans in Central and Eastern European countries

Abstract: This paper analyses the determinants of the changes in the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio in selected European emerging markets The model was estimated on a panel dataset using a fixed effects estimator for seven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries between Q3:2007 and Q3:2012 The countries analyzed are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia Although the literature on NPLs is quite extensive, this is the first empirical research on the countries of CEE region using aggregate, country-level data on problem loans The results suggest that the primary cause of high levels of NPLs is the economic slowdown, which is evident from statistically significant and economically large coefficients on GDP, unemployment and the inflation rate

Determinants of small and medium sized fast growing enterprises in central and eastern europe: a panel data analysis

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the main determinants of growth in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in central and eastern Europe. The important role played by SMEs in the economic development of central and eastern European (CEE) countries has attracted the recent attention of academics and policymakers but remains relatively unexplored. Empirical research has suggested that firm growth is determined not only by the traditional characteristics of size and age but also by other firm-specific factors such as indebtedness, internal financing, future growth opportunities, process and product innovation, and organisational changes. Although growth in manufacturing and service SMEs in transition economies is well explained by the traditional firm characteristics of size and age, there is no empirical evidence concerning what other specific factors may be associated with SME growth and performance in these countries. Using a panel dataset of 560 fast growing small and medium enterprises from six transition economies we find that firm size when measured by firm total assets can explain to a large extent the growth in SMEs in these countries. When size is proxied by a firm’s number of employees the observed effect is marginal. Firm specific characteristics such as leverage, current liquidity, future growth opportunities, internally generated funds, and factor productivity