Credito bancario e sviluppo economico nelle regioni italiane

The paper proposes an analysis of the contribution of the banking system to the economic development in different Italian regions; the assumption is that the distribution and the quality of bank credit reflect the differences in terms of economic development of different regions. The analysis focuses, in particular, on credit quality, assuming that the willingness of banks to grant loans should be affected, according to an inverse relationship, by the size of non-performing loans. Another element included in the analysis is the presence of banks in the area; in addition to these aspects, also investments in research and development will be evaluated: the expectation is that they have a positive influence on the economic development in the region. The empirical tests, conducted using multivariate linear regression analysis, showed that higher levels of credit quality in banks’ loans correspond also to increased levels of gross domestic product: a deterioration in the creditworthiness of the banks’ counterparty results, therefore, in a lower economic growth and, therefore, in a credit crunch, which in turn shrinks the margins for gross domestic product’s increase. Investments on research and development is rewarding regions that believe it is necessary to invest in this direction.

Manuela Gallo, Valeria Vannoni, Credito bancario e sviluppo economico nelle regioni italiane in "ECONOMIA E DIRITTO DEL TERZIARIO " 3/2011, pp 407-420, DOI: 10.3280/ED2011-003001