Italy is characterized by strong differencesboth in the productive and in the financial structure. Small and medium firmstend to concentrate in the so called 'Marshallian industrial district', whoseproductive system has been thoroughly studied but whose financial features arepartially...

This paper analyzes firms' difficulties in accessing credit before and during the crisis, by focusing on two of their characteristics: financial fragility and growth prospects. Our econometric analysis indicates that fragile financial conditions were associated with a much higher than average...

Following the sovereign debt crisis, bank interest rates charged to non-financial firms declined sharply in the euro area. This work explores the firms' balance-sheet channel hypothesis on the role played by firms' characteristics and risk profile in the transmission of monetary policy. Using a...