Corporate financing in the euro area and France: an analysis of developments

The author looks at the developments in corporate finance, in the euro area and in France, since the mid-1990s. He first examines the nature of financing: the relative roles of self financing, bank credit, private equity. He then analyses, first from a positive point of view, the changes in the macro-financial equilibrium brought about by changes in corporate financing methods; then, from a normative point of view, whether these developments are desirable, and what problems they may pose from the point of view of monetary policy or financial intermediaries’ regulations.