Investment as a Determinant of the Sustained Economic Growth in the European Union after Crisis 2008-2009

The subject of the paper is an analysis of post-crisis economic recovery in the European Union, which started much later than in the United States. A secular stagnation was a serious jeopardy for the European economy as a result of prolonged low investment propensity. However, after the second wave of recession, economic growth in the EU (from 2014) has been becoming more sustained. Nevertheless, the risk of secular stagnation persists because the investment rate still remains low. Analysis contains: basic theoretical assessment of the impact of investment on the economic growth and the statistical data cover two periods: 2009-2013 and 2014-2017. Presenting the results of GDP growth and its factors we use a demand and supply-side approach. Attention has been focused on investment and its barriers: macroeconomic, structural and resulting from a low quality of the business environment. The empirical analysis shows a large EU investment gap, deepened in the period 2009-2013 and the low rate of investment growth from 2014, when the EU economies entered the economic recovery.