The advantages or disadvantages firms experience as a result of their size, referred to in the economic literature as returns to scale, are of central importance in many economic models. Increasing returns to scale, whereby unit costs decrease as output volume increases, could explain productivity differences between Europe and the United States. We present fresh evidence on the returns to scale of European firms: most exhibit constant returns to scale, but a non-trivial share also show increasing returns to scale.

Have you ever accidentally burnt banknotes in the microwave? It’s not as uncommon as you might think. What about an unhappy encounter with a shredder? Our experts can piece even the tiniest fragments back together. If more than half of the banknote is left over, the Bundesbank will replace it. In the final instalment of our video series with Silviana Ursu, we show you what happens with damaged cash.

We used the last summer days and flew with the drone over our premises - watch a few impression in the video above.