Publications

A Partial and Fragile Recovery – Annual Report on European SMEs 2013/14 – October 2014

Client: EC DG Enterprise and Industry
Published:

The 2014 report provides an overview of the size, structure and importance of SMEs to the European economy and their contribution to growth and jobs. Comparisons with important partner countries outside the EU and with the large enterprise sector are also included. The pace of recovery of SMEs has slowed in the last three years. […]

Study on the Impact of the EU Energy Label – and Potential Changes to It – on Consumer Understanding and Purchase Decisions – August 2014

Client: EC DG Energy
Published:

As part of the review of the EU Directive on Energy Labels, the European Commission engaged London Economics to undertake a behavioural study on consumer understanding and purchasing decisions, of the current EU energy label and potential changes to it. Interim findings were presented to the 3rd Stakeholder meeting on the Evaluation of the Energy […]

Study on the Functioning of the Consumer Credit Markets in the European Union – May 2014

Client: EC DG Health and Consumers
Published: May, 2014

The study assesses the degree to which Consumer Credit Directive (CCD) fulfilled its principal objectives, namely: a) fostering an internal credit market in the EU, with a positive impact, in particular on cross­border competition; and, b) providing a high level of protection of consumers regarding consumer credits. The study focuses on the impact of the […]

Voluntary Food Labelling Schemes Study

Client: EC DG SANCO
Published: January, 2014

This market study for the European Commission included a pan-European behavioural experiment to test consumer willingness to pay for products associated with voluntary food labelling schemes. The study also included a web sweep of voluntary food labelling scheme in Europe, a consumer survey and assessment of schemes performance with the requirements of the 2010 Commission […]

Consumer Protection Aspects of Financial Services

Client: European Parliament
Published: February, 2014

The financial crisis of 2007/2008 has clearly shown that inadequate consumer protection, especially in the US mortgage market, was a major contributor to financial instability. Moreover, many holders of sub-prime mortgages suffered considerable harm as a result of mis-selling or inappropriate selling. However, the USA is not the only country where weak consumer protection resulted […]

Analysis of Developments in the Fields of Direct Investment and M&A — Part II: Foreign Firms’ Contributions to EU Economic Performance

Client: EC DG Internal Market and Services
Published: December, 2013

Part II of Analysis of developments in the fields of direct investment and M&A considered the performance of foreign firms that are recipients of FDI.   Domestic firms far outweigh foreign-owned firms in the EU; however, the contributions of foreign-owned firms to economic performance are disproportionately high in terms of productivity, employment generation and the […]