The study investigates the role of market-based finance and public financial support in aiding scaling up by European SMEs. First, we analyse the impact of public loan guarantee schemes on firms’ access to market-based instruments. Second, we study whether firms’ access to market-based finance and the use of public grants boost a firm’s (ex post) growth. The analysis is based on a unique and original dataset of about 31,000 Eurozone firms in the 2009–2020 period. The study finds that firms’ access to market-based finance is (i) driven positively by the previous use of public financial support schemes and (ii) has a positive effect on subsequent growth. In particular, SMEs display relatively higher growth in fixed assets, while for large firms, growth is mainly driven by current assets. Moreover, SME issuers using public grants achieve significantly stronger growth than comparable firms.

该研究调查了基于市场的融资和公共财政支持在帮助欧洲中小企业扩大规模方面的作用。首先，我们分析公共贷款担保计划对企业获得市场工具的影响。其次，我们研究企业获得市场融资和使用公共拨款是否会促进企业的（事后）增长。该分析基于 2009 年至 2020 年期间约 31,000 家欧元区企业的独特原始数据集。研究发现，企业获得市场融资的途径是：(i) 之前使用的公共财政支持计划对企业产生了积极的推动作用；(ii) 对随后的增长产生了积极的影响。其中，中小企业的固定资产增长相对较高，而大企业的增长主要由流动资产驱动。此外，使用公共赠款的中小企业发行人实现的增长明显强于同类公司。