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The factors behind the pre-crisis growth model of the Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European EU countries (CESEE) region - skilled yet affordable labour force, foreign direct investment, imports of productivity-enhancing technology - are having less effect, but are yet to be substituted. This paper proposes a new growth model centred around a shift towards more home-grown innovation, digitalisation, climate change mitigation and a strong focus on skills, labour and social inclusion, to leave the middle-income trap behind for good and to boost economies' growth prospects in a post-COVID world. Based on analysis of firm-level data, it highlights the prerequisites of making this transition happen.

Business & Economics / Finance --- Economics --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man

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Using a representative sample of European firms, this paper studies whether and to what extent financing constraints affect employers' decisions to invest in employee training. It combines survey data on investment activities with administrative data on financial statements to develop an index of financing constraints. It estimates that a 10 percent increase in this index reduces investment in training as a share of fixed assets by 2.9 to 4.5 percent and investment in training per employee by 1.8 to 2.5 percent. The paper documents that lower investment in training reduces productivity, and show that firms facing tighter financing constraints cut back the investment in training and tangible assets less than investment in R&D and software and data.

Business & Economics / Finance --- Economics --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man