In this paper, we describe the establishment and assess the relevance of banking supervision in Italy between 1926 and 1936. This case is particularly interesting from the international perspective, Italy having been the first European country to assign substantial supervision to its central...

At the macro level, recent policy-relevant research establishes an association between credit booms and banking distress; the focus is on leverage. However, scant evidence is available at the micro level. This study analyses the relationship between lending growth, leverage, and distress at the...

This paper examines the link between overbanking and financial distress during the interwar period in Europe, focusing on Italy as a case study. Using regression analysis and a systematic review of coeval literature, it shows that banks experiencing distress had opened scores of branches, had...