Text data gathered from social media are extremely up-to-date and have a great potential value for economic research. At the same time, they pose some challenges, as they require different statistical methods from the ones used for traditional data. The aim of this paper is to give a critical...

We analyse new survey data from a representative sample of about 2,000 Italian micro-entrepreneurs to assess their level of financial and digital competences and to investigate whether these skills help them cope with unexpected shocks. We find that the financial literacy and digital skills of...

We analyse the content of Italian occupations operating in about 600 sectors with a focus on the dimensions that expose workers to risks during the COVID-19 epidemics. We leverage detailed information from ICP, the Italian equivalent of O*Net and find that several sectors need physical proximity...

The decline in VAT revenue during the Covid-19 recession has been unexpectedly lower than the drop in household consumption. In the first half of 2021, VAT bounced back to pre-crisis levels even though aggregate consumption had still not recovered. According to our analysis, this result...

The spread of the pandemic and the consequent adoption of lockdown measures to prevent infections had severe consequences for business activity and employment. By using data from the Italian Labour Force Survey, this paper simulates the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the dynamics and...

In a context characterized by upcoming regulatory changes and deeply affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, this paper examines the diffusion of firm undercapitalization (i.e., the firm displaying a level of equity below the legal limit) among Italian corporations. In a proposal by the National...

This paper analyses the interactions between financial regulation and crises with reference to the experience of the United States in the period after the global financial crisis up to the COVID-19 emergency. In the last few years, a new regulatory system for large banks has arisen in the U.S.,...