Credito, usura e nascita della piccola impresa: evidenze empiriche dalle province italiane

Credit, usury and the birth of small firms: some empirical evidence from the Italian provinces. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 98% of firms in Italy; they are present in all sectors of economic activity and play an important role in contributing to the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment not only in our country, but also in other realities of the European Union. As such, SMEs are one of the pillars of economic and civil society. However, some critical issues burden the SMEs, such as the modest capitalization, the difficulty in evolving towards more modern forms of managing their business, their reluctance to accept shareholders and their difficulty in being more “transparent”, especially towards the tax autorities. The small size (often family businesses) leads to a more expensive audit activity for the tax authorities, which means that SMEs are the ideal customer for those who engage in illegal activities in providing usury credit. In what follows, the relationship between tax evasion, illegal credit and usury will be examined in depth, to obtain the theoretical grid to comment the results of some econometric estimates based on ISTAT source data and Ministry of the Interior related to the birth of new enterprices usury reported to the judicial authority. The analysis confirm the causal link between the shadow economy (of which tax evasion is a part) and illegal credit (usury).