Can survey-based information help assess investment gaps in the eu?

Pana Alves (), Daniel Dejuan-Bitria and Laurent Maurin ()
Additional contact information
Pana Alves: Banco de España
Laurent Maurin: European Investment Bank

No 1908, Occasional Papers from Banco de España

Abstract: This study illustrates how information from micro-level and survey-based databases can be used, along with macroeconomic indicators, to provide a better understanding of corporate investment obstacles across the EU. To show this, we use a novel dataset merging firm-level data from the European Investment Bank Investment Survey (EIBIS) and hard data from corporations’ balance sheet and P&L information. We show that the indicators of impediments to investment at the country level, which can be derived from aggregating qualitative answers, correlate relatively well with macro-based hard data, which are commonly considered as determinants of investments in macro-based models. After controlling for firm-specific characteristics, the perceived investment gap (the difference between desired and actual investment) remains correlated with the reported impediments. While access to finance is not the most reported obstacle, reporting it has the highest information content. Moreover, the signal intensifies when it is given by “weaker” firms, defined as those that are smaller, and/or more indebted, and/or less profitable and/or with lower liquidity positions. From a policy standpoint, our findings suggest that survey-based information can be a useful input to complement both macro and micro hard data and better inform the design of targeted policies to support investment.

Keywords: investment obstacles; investment gap; corporate investment; investment determinants; survey-based information; access to finance. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 D25 G30 G38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2019-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eec
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.bde.es/f/webbde/SES/Secciones/Publicac ... 19/Files/do1908e.pdf First version, May 2019 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Can survey-based information help to assess investment gaps in the EU? (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bde:opaper:1908

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Occasional Papers from Banco de España Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ángel Rodríguez. Electronic Dissemination of Information Unit. Research Department. Banco de España ().