Vania Sena is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham.

• 1. Introduction 2. Credit Constraints and Economic Outcomes: A Short Survey 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Asymmetric Information in the Credit Market and its Impact on the Firm’s Demand for Investment: A Brief Survey 2.3 Self-Employment Choice, Gender and Financial Constraints 2.4 Conclusions 3. Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: An Empirical Analysis for the Italian Manufacturing, 1989-1994 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: A Partial Equilibrium Approach 3.3 The Empirical Analysis 3.4 The Econometric Results 3.5 Concluding Remarks 4. Product Market Competition, Financial Pressure and Producers’ Cooperatives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The General Framework 4.3 The Empirical Analysis 4.4 Concluding Remarks 5. Self-Employment and Gender: How Important are Financial Constraints? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Model 5.3 The Household Survey of Entrepreneurship (HSE) 2003 5.4 The Results 5.5 Concluding Remarks 6. Conclusions

Vania Sena is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham.

• 1. Introduction 2. Credit Constraints and Economic Outcomes: A Short Survey 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Asymmetric Information in the Credit Market and its Impact on the Firm’s Demand for Investment: A Brief Survey 2.3 Self-Employment Choice, Gender and Financial Constraints 2.4 Conclusions 3. Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: An Empirical Analysis for the Italian Manufacturing, 1989-1994 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: A Partial Equilibrium Approach 3.3 The Empirical Analysis 3.4 The Econometric Results 3.5 Concluding Remarks 4. Product Market Competition, Financial Pressure and Producers’ Cooperatives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The General Framework 4.3 The Empirical Analysis 4.4 Concluding Remarks 5. Self-Employment and Gender: How Important are Financial Constraints? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Model 5.3 The Household Survey of Entrepreneurship (HSE) 2003 5.4 The Results 5.5 Concluding Remarks 6. Conclusions

Vania Sena is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham.

• 1. Introduction 2. Credit Constraints and Economic Outcomes: A Short Survey 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Asymmetric Information in the Credit Market and its Impact on the Firm’s Demand for Investment: A Brief Survey 2.3 Self-Employment Choice, Gender and Financial Constraints 2.4 Conclusions 3. Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: An Empirical Analysis for the Italian Manufacturing, 1989-1994 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Technical Efficiency and Finance Constraints: A Partial Equilibrium Approach 3.3 The Empirical Analysis 3.4 The Econometric Results 3.5 Concluding Remarks 4. Product Market Competition, Financial Pressure and Producers’ Cooperatives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The General Framework 4.3 The Empirical Analysis 4.4 Concluding Remarks 5. Self-Employment and Gender: How Important are Financial Constraints? 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Model 5.3 The Household Survey of Entrepreneurship (HSE) 2003 5.4 The Results 5.5 Concluding Remarks 6. Conclusions