Recession in the EU: Its impact on retail trade

The financial crisis during the summer of 2007 resulted from a fall in asset prices after a period of asset price inflation, leading to a liquidity shortage among financial institutions and concerns over their solvency. These concerns were subsequently transmitted to the non-financial sectors (the so-called ‘real economy’), as credit facilities were withdrawn and business and consumer confidence fell. The resulting recession saw household demand retract, particularly in relation to major purchases of consumer durables (for example, cars) and housing, both highly credit dependent markets. This publication uses (principally) short-term business indicators to look at the impact of the recession on trends in the EU’s retail trade sector. It is the third in a series of Statistics in Focus publications – following on from issues 17 and 60/2009 – which provided information relating to the effects of the financial crisis/recession on output and on employment in the EU-27’s business economy.