Credit reporting systems are an important ingredient for financial markets. These systems are based upon the unique identification of borrowers, which is enabled if a compulsory national identification system exists in a country. We present evidence derived from difference-in-difference analyses...

Information asymmetries can severely limit the cross-border border expansion of banks, if entering banks can only obtain incomplete information about potential new clients. Such asymmetries are reduced by credit registers, which distribute financial data on bank clients. This ECRI research...

This paper investigates the level of debt specialization across European firms relying on a cross-country comparable sample of manufacturing firms. We find that a number of firm characteristics -- such as firm size and age -- help predict the firm composition of the various types of debts (i.e....

The paper proposes the use of panel data unit-root tests to assess market-share instability in order to obtain indications of industry dynamics. The idea is to consider movements in market shares as much more than mere elements of the market structure. In fact, these movements reflect conduct...

This article investigates the effects of different job categories on households' likelihood of experiencing financial distress. Given imperfect financial markets and the absence of unemployment subsidies, households with less secure jobs are likely to experience drops in income more frequently...

This article investigates the determinants of reciprocity towards the experimenters in the lab under a flat-wage scheme. We find that personality attributes - such as agreeableness - help predict the behaviour of the subjects. We additionally propose and assess a general measure of reciprocity.

The aim of this paper is to test the predictions of Sutton's model of independent submarkets for the Italian retail banking industry. This industry, in fact, can be viewed as made of a large number of local markets corresponding to different geographical locations. In order to do that, I first...

This study investigates the effects of close ties between firms and banks – as measured by the share and length of the relationship with the main bank, and by the number of lenders – on a firm's ability to develop innovation and introduce new products. As these effects may vary depending on...

This paper deals with the role of reciprocation in the formation of individuals' social networks. We follow the activity of a panel of bloggers over more than a year and investigate the extent to which initiating a relation brings about its reciprocation. We adapt a standard capital investment...