In the recent years, the JRC has built a solid expertise on the use of firm-level data and micro-econometric modelling in support to the policymaking of partner Directorate Generals, such as Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Union, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. With new challenges materializing just as the economy was recovering from the pandemic shock, financial fragility and vulnerabilities of the real economy remain a source of concern. Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, the corporate sector also faces broader challenges related to the structural transformations that the green and digital transition, and mounting climate risks, are posing.
Against this backdrop, the JRC makes use of firm-level data to examine relevant aspects of corporate financial vulnerabilities and their implications for policy design. Recent analyses look for instance at the determinants of firm bankruptcy, and at the role of efficiency in insolvency procedures across the EU; at firm resilience and performance after natural disasters (flooding); at the cost of credit for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the aftermath of climate-related natural hazards.