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New survey evidence on COVID-19 and Irish SMEs: Measuring the impact and policy response. ESRI Working Paper 698 April 2021.

Kren, Janez and Lawless, Martina and O'Toole, Conor and McCann, Fergal and McQuinn, John (2021) New survey evidence on COVID-19 and Irish SMEs: Measuring the impact and policy response. ESRI Working Paper 698 April 2021. [Working Paper]

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    Abstract

    In this paper, we use new survey data on the Irish SME population to trace out the impact of the pandemic on firms’ revenues, their capacity to adjust their cost base and their usage of policy supports. Between March and October 2020 over 70 per cent of firms experienced some fall in turnover with a median fall of 25 per cent compared to 2019. The impact of the shock appears uncorrelated with past firm performance which highlights its exogenous nature. Expenditure fell by 8.5 per cent on average with 40 per cent of firms cutting spending. Losses were incurred in over 30 per cent of enterprises with a further 30 per cent just breaking even. We find that about 61 per cent of SMEs received wage subsidies, 20 per cent of firms used tax warehousing while fewer than 6 per cent of firms used lending initiatives. Policy support take-up is more likely among those more affected by the downturn, while the smallest firms appear less likely to use support than larger firms.

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    Item Type: Working Paper
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > public health policy (including global activities)
    Countries > Ireland
    EU policies and themes > Policies & related activities > economic and financial affairs
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Series: Series > Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Dublin > ESRI Working Papers
    Depositing User: Daniel Pennell
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 20 Jul 2021 11:07
    Number of Pages: 36
    Last Modified: 20 Jul 2021 11:07
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/103452

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