SMEs and the challenge to go public

Italian SMEs go public much less than SMEs located in other European countries, even though their relevance for the national economy is relatively higher in terms of employment and value added. Why do Italian SMEs so scarcely rely on equity as an external source of finance, despite the option of getting listed on SME-dedicated stock market segments? In this paper we address this question by analyzing the responses to a questionnaire that we submitted to a sample of listed firms and institutional investors. We also suggest policy interventions to provide Italian SMEs with the appropriate incentives for listing.