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.

Die Inflationserwartungen der Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher stiegen deutlich an. Die Erwartungen hinsichtlich des Wachstums der nominalen Einkommen in den kommenden zwölf Monaten blieben weitgehend unverändert, wohingegen sich die Erwartungen in Bezug auf das Wachstum der nominalen Ausgaben abermals erhöhten.