Bank financing and start-up survival in the italian economy

Firms’ access to bank credit has always played a crucial role in understanding the environmental factors that are capable of affecting the consolidation and growth productive structure of modern economies. Exogenous global shocks like the 2007– 08 financial and economic crisis severely reduced overall economic operators’ access to credit, determining a substantial reduction in the volume of bank credit (i.e. the credit crunch). In particular, due to the greater fragility of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups compared to large and more structured firms, SMEs are the first entities to be negatively affected. For these reasons, this field of analysis is central to the debate on the strategic industrial policy choices of national and international policy makers. Looking ahead, the current 2020 COVID-19 pandemic crisis also involves a similar risk.