In the last fifteen years Italians’ high propensity to save, the increasing supply of government securities, the launch of investment funds and the liberalization of capital movements have enormously enlarged the role of the financial markets and the opportunities for diversification.
There nonetheless remain risks for the economy as a whole that the markets do not help to control and which financial theory defines as “non-diversifiable”. Such risks are connected with the economic cycle or the alternation of periods of financial euphoria and panic, which tend to generate broad swings in asset prices and thus affect households’ wealth.