This paper investigates whether local cooperative banks mitigated income inequality in Italian municipalities after the two main crises that characterized the European landscape between 2008 and 2015, i.e. the financial and sovereign-debt crises. Estimation results reveal that, although in the...

1) Are Italian mutual banks efficient? Evidence from two different cost frontier techniques, by Juan Sergio Lopez, Alessandra Appenini, and Stefania P.S. Rossi. The aim of the first paper is to analyze the efficiency of co-operative banks in Italy. The increasing competition induced by the...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the efficiency of co-operative banks in Italy. The increasing competition induced by the ongoing process of liberalization in Europe has been affecting also these small financial institutions that used to operate in a more protected environment. Based on a...