We study the effects of the reform of the system of severance payments (TFR) of Italian employees on the cost and the access to credit for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). The most direct consequence of the reform is to reduce in the long run the amount of liquid assets available to...

The hypothesis underlined in this paper is that apart from infant mortality there is another relevant phenomenon taking place within new-born Small Business Enterprises (SBEs) in the period immediately after entry; namely that the smaller ones among them, having entered with a marked sub-optimal...

In the present paper the following hypotheses have been tested: 1. pressure groups have a marginal role in fragmented industries. In fact, fragmented industries are characterised by the presence of many small firms and by self-centred entrepreneurs, prone more to conflicting than to co-operative...