is to be made in overcoming the difficulty of matching the demand and supply of funds then it is important that markets, technologies and stakeholders develop the capacity to ‘ bundle ’ corporate risk into financial instruments that meet the needs of final investors, such as insurance companies, pension funds and households. an example of this is venture capital funds, which use their ability to evaluate young and highly innovative firms to reduce the very high idiosyncratic risk of individual firms for their investors. similarly, securitization companies can offer investors bonds with different risk / return profiles bundled into portfolios of assets not individually negotiable. banks play a crucial role in this evolution of the productive system ’ s model of financing, a role that affects not only firms but investors and infrastructure as well. banks can exploit their knowledge of the country ’ s entrepreneurial fabric and their key position in the distribution of savings products, and they can provide valuable financial advisory services, helping those firms that can gain access to the stock market or to forms of financing other than loans ; they remain at all times an indispensable reference point for small firms. offering a broader range of services can in turn help them to diversify their sources of income. the outlook opening up firms to external investors and developing a non - bank financial industry are among the objectives of europe ’ s capital markets union project. the european commission recently published a report taking stock of progress so far and relaunching the whole project. 9 it is the most promising international scheme in this area, despite the uncertainty and lengthy negotiation times typical of european projects. in the meantime, italy needs to make a move. in an attempt to increase the share of savings invested in the productive system, the government has recently set up individual savings plans ( piani individuali di risparmio, pir ), asset management products that are eligible for reduced taxation. just a few months after their introduction, the amount of funds collected, over €5 billion, is more than the government itself had projected. this is good news, although the risks should not be underestimated, particularly as regards investor protection. another instrument that is fairly new to italy and is proving increasingly successful is the spac ( special purpose acquisition company ). basically, it is a small private equity firm that gathers funds from few investors on the basis of the promoters ’ personal reputation. the money is then used to gain control of a single target firm, which must be acquired within a stated period of time

agree with the idea that what we ultimately need is a “ strong representation of fiscally conservative voters ”. but how can we implement this? in principle, by building a wide consensus on the advantages of fiscal discipline we may actually induce voters to punish policy - makers who do not deliver it. asking voters to agree on fiscal consolidation packages without convincing them of their advantages is not straightforward. but well - designed, stable and easy to apply fiscal rules can contribute to the emergence of a public consensus in favour of policies aimed at fiscal sustainability. in the second part of his lecture leszek balcerowicz focuses on the problem of sovereign debt in the eu, analyzing three main aspects : ( i ) the management of the greek crisis ; ( ii ) the development of a debt resolution mechanism in europe on the heels of the greek experience ; and ( iii ) longer term solutions for the stability of the euro area. according to balcerowicz, a double standard emerged between euro - and non - euro countries in the eu. the vulnerable fiscal position of some euro - area countries led to the fear of contagion. after a lengthy debate and with a significant delay, the possibility of an imf intervention was finally accepted. for non - euro countries, where the risk of contagion was considered modest, the application for imf conditional loans was not controversial. in the case of euro - area countries, however, such as greece, a complete set of intervention options was never put on the table ; some options were not considered at all, basically due to motives of prestige. with reference to the second point, balcerowicz charges that the european financial stabilisation mechanism ( efsm ) is inconsistent with the letter of the article 122. 2 of the treaty. he also criticizes the ecb ’ s securities market programme as a possible threat to its reputation. finally, turning to the analysis of long - term solutions, he advocates a proper committee for the study of economic and monetary union ( 1989 ), p. 20. institutional setting able to avoid pro - cyclical policies. structural reforms should be implemented to spur long - run growth and to promote the adjustment of the economy to shocks. it is quite difficult to assess a single article of the treaty out of context. the consistency of the efsm with the letter of the article 122. 2 could be debated, but it is evident that the efsm complies with the spirit of the treaty, given the importance of the