Three essays in applied empirical economics
b'Each of the three chapters of this thesis is related to a specific aspect of financing and concerns, respectively, governments, corporations, and households. The first chapter\\nstudies the determinants of euro-denominated Central and Eastern European (CEE) government bond spreads that reflect the financing costs incurred by these countries. The second chapter turns to the corporate sector and analyses whether corporate debt markets in the euro area are converging. In this way we assess whether corporations face similar financing conditions with respect to bank loan and bond interest rates. Chapter 3 investigates households\\u2019 withdrawing of home equity to access their housing wealth as\\nan additional source of finance. The three chapters of this thesis are self-contained and can be read independently of\\neach other.'