Do rating models embody correctly the impact of macroeconomic variables on debtors’ solvency, determining a lag in downgrading? In pre-crisis periods, when interest rates increases are recorded as well as decreases in real growth rates, rating assessments fail to register risk increases in...

Are private equity investors able to reduce the overall costs of going public? This hypothesis was tested, for the Italian market, on a sample of 155 Ipos (54 Vb and 101 Nvb) during the period 1999-2007. For each company we estimated the direct and indirect costs of listing. The main results are...

This paper summarizes the results attained by the Eurosystem in harmonizing the statistics used for the conduct of monetary policy. Since the creation of the euro area, in January 1999, significant progress has been made in the harmonization of data on banks' balance sheets, central banks and...

The rise in the cost of funding is having a deep impact in the market of mortgages. Their pricing has thus soared, adding a new component to bank costs, that must also face the rising credit and liquidity risks in the present scenario

The affordability index of Italian households analyzes the factors influencing the households’ propensity to buy an house with a mortgage loan. In 2013, the index recorded a significant improvement returning to pre-crisis levels, due to the houses prices decrease and to the fall of interest...

The paper explores the motivations underlying the securitization activity of Italian banks from 1999 to 2006. By estimating probit and proportional hazard duration models, in which the probability of placing securitizations is linked to a set of balance sheet indicators and a vector of further...