The credit supply tensions that have arisen on several occasions in recent months are a reflection of these factors. On the other hand firms have seen their scope for self-financing diminish and the volume of overdue payments from general government sky-rocket. In such a situation, even healthy businesses need to be able to count on the availability of sufficient external sources of financing.
3  M. Pagano, F. Panetta and L. Zingales, “Why Do Companies Go Public?” Journal of Finance, LIII, No. 1, 1998, suggest that the relative underdevelopment of the Italian stock market depends on firms’ unwillingness to accept the obligations of transparency that listing entails. 4  The impact of listing on the cost of credit is studied in Pagano, Panetta and Zingales, op. cit.