Restarting European Long-Term Investment Finance - a new CEPR Network

Weak bank lending to the corporate sector, especially small and medium enterprises, and low infrastructure investment are major concerns in Europe. 

CEPR, together with Assonime, have set up a new network and started a major research effort aimed at identifying the causes of this investment dearth. The approach is a broad ranging effort to distinguish between supply-side and demand-side factors as well as cyclical and structural determinants.

The project aims to address the reasons behind the significant decrease that has occurred in the potential supply of bank credit, in particular of long-term financing for real investment. It is funded by Emittenti Titoli, and is led by Professor Colin Mayer (University of Oxford and CEPR). The research team have had several working meetings, and CEPR will publish a Green Paper on 29^th January 2015, launched at Bocconi University in Milan, which is intended to provide discussion of these issues and to guide the future research.

There will also be a meeting at the headquarters of Santander Bank in London on the 6^th of February to discuss this Paper and the project. More information is available here.