Between 1990 and 2005 the Italian legal and economic framework relating to financial markets experienced major developments (a new Banking Law was passed, institutional investors' role increased in financial markets, the stock market was privatized, a securities law was enacted, a corporate...

In February 1998 the Italian Government passed an Act reforming the law on financial services, stock exchanges and listed companies. With regard to listed companies, the reform was intended to strengthen minority shareholders' rights. The idea behind the new rules on corporate governance was...

The cost of enforcing contracts is a key determinant of market performance. We document this point with reference to the credit market in a model of opportunistic debtors and inefficient courts. According to the model, improvements in judicial efficiency should reduce credit rationing and...

This paper suggests that debt should be raised by subsidiaries in order to exploit the limited liability of the holding company. However, when this behavior increases the cost of funds, the holding might prefer to raise debt to a point where it would also default when subsidiaries are...