Because of its importance in understanding and explaining growth, the topic of innovation has received a huge attention in the economic literature. However, our knowledge of the factors that influence innovation and its related activities is not as exhaustive as it could be. The present study...

We examine the role played by Mutual Guarantee Institutions (MGIs) in the lending policies undertaken by banks at the peak of the Great Crisis of 2007-2009. We address this issue by using a large database on Italian firms built from the credit files of UniCredit banking Group and focusing on...

The ability of a country and its businesses to grow is tightly related to the possibility of exporting and penetrating into foreign markets. The aim of this paper is to study whether bank support can help small businesses (SBs) exporting at the extensive as well as the intensive margin. We...