This paper analyses the evolution of debt of Italian firms from 2010 to 2020 with special focus on the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. By means of quantile regressions, our approach investigates several heterogeneities to assess the vulnerabilities of the most fragile firms. We find that,...

Cross-country bank lending mushroomed over the past decade. This helped to spread risks but also meant that international banks were more vulnerable than previously to shocks from abroad including from each other. Following the outbreak of the US sub-prime crisis, and especially after the...