Our main results, based on a sample containing survey-based measures of financial constraints for Italian firms, can be summarized as follows. First, the negative link between financial constraints and firm size is confirmed: firms that declare to be constrained are on average smaller than those that do not, and their FSD is relatively more skewed to the right. Second, when narrow definitions of financial constraints are adopted, such constraints seem to be a real problem for a small minority of firms, around 5 percent in our sample; using broader measures, the figure increases to 17 percent (21 percent among very young firms). Regardless of the definition adopted, however, the FSDs estimated for nonconstrained firms are almost always visually and statistically indistinguishable from those for the entire sample. Third, financial constraints problems are found to be relatively more frequent among very young firms, those up to six years of age, but not enough to alter the previous two conclusions.
展开▼
