This paper examines the impact of ownership structure and other relevant factors on the variability of bank performance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It highlights a sector of the MENA economy rarely investigated in such details in the past despite its tremendous importance...

We study an economy in which large technology companies, Big Techs (BTs), provide credit to firms operating on their platforms. We focus on two advantages that BTs have with respect to banks: better information on their clients and better enforcement of credit repayment since BTs can exclude a...

We study an economy in which large technology companies, big techs, provide credit to rms operating on their platforms. We focus on the trade-o⁄ between privacy and e¢ ciency in the interaction between big tech and bank lending. Big techs have access to troves of data on rms who trade on...

We test whether output growth in European economic agglomeration regions depends on financial development. To this end we suggest a relative measure of the quality of financial institutions rather than the usual quantity proxy of financial development. In order to measure the quality of...

We examine the relationship between the number of bank relationships and firms’ performance, evaluating possible differential effects related to firms’ size. Our sample of firms from Italy includes many small firms, 99 percent of which are not listed and for which bank debt is a major source...