Poverty is generally defined as income or expenditure insufficiency, but the economic condition of a household also depends on its real and financial asset holdings. This paper investigates measures of poverty that rely on indicators of household net worth. We review and assess two main...

The issue of the importance of financial constraints in hampering the birth of new entrepreneurs is still debated. One of the way to identify financial constraints is to look at the importance of household wealth in the decision to become an entrepreneur. In the absence of correlation between...

This paper analyzes whether in Italy the price of consumer loans is based on borrower specific risk. Mispricing could threat financial stability through negative effects on lenders' profitability; risk-based pricing also leads to a more efficient allocation of credit through lower prices for...

In the absence of any correlation between wealth and entrepreneurial talent, initial net wealth should have an explanatory power in the decision to become an entrepreneur only for households that are financially constrained; further, its importance should decrease with wealth. I test these...

The aim of this paper is twofold. Using the Eu-Silc database for seven European countries, we first analyse the frequency of households in arrears in repaying mortgages. By considering only households with mortgages, we uncover some new evidence compared to previous analyses. Although the shares...

In the absence of correlation between net wealth and entrepreneurial talent, net wealth should have an explanatory power in the decision of becoming entrepreneurs only for households that are financially constrained. Further, the importance of net wealth should be higher for the poorest...

In this paper we test different theories on debt maturity that can be ascribed to either the demand or the supply side of the market. Firm risk, asymmetric information, agency costs are all aspects that should be considered in the analysis. We also include leverage in the firm decision process...

In 2012 the Italian Parliament introduced into Italian law a special section in the Companies Register and a large number of financial incentives to create a favorable environment for the development of ‘innovative start-ups' (ISUPs). In this paper we compare ISUPs with other start-ups. In...

Small firms encounter difficulties in raising external finance owing to greater information problems. For small innovative firms, whose activity is more difficult to evaluate, the cost of external finance could be even higher. This paper examines special features of the financial structure of...