What determines the growth of micro firms in the euro area?

Abstract

This paper explores the diverging impact of country- and firm-specific factors on the growth of micro firms in the euro area (2005-2011) along different growth quantiles. While bank credit and firm sales seem to be important for all size groups and quantiles, micro firms are found to be particularly vulnerable to country-specific conditions, especially financial stability, country risk, banking concentration and post-crisis location in the European periphery, the most exposed ones being those with the slowest growth.