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 nied­ri­gen Zin­sen ma­chen den Ban­ken und Spar­kas­sen in Deutsch­land wei­ter­hin zu schaf­fen. „Die Aussicht auf ein anhaltend historisch niedriges Zinsniveau macht einen weiteren Rückgang der Rentabilität sehr wahrscheinlich“, teilten Bun­des­bank­vor­stand Joachim Wuermeling und BaFin-Exekutivdirektor Raimund Röseler mit.