should firms going public enjoy tax benefits? ”, european financial management, 2003 ; m. geranio and e. garcia, come sarebbe l ’ italia con 1. 000 societa quotate?, 2012, mimeo, bocconi. the data in the text are obtained by combining the public information provided by dealogic ltd. with information from the bank of italy ’ s register of securities. the latter source also includes small value bond issues. the average yield on the five smallest value issues is about 7. 5 per cent. bis central bankers ’ speeches credit funds can make a far from negligible contribution to diversifying firms ’ funding sources, particularly the medium - to - long - term component. 4. 4 securitizations the transformation of italy ’ s “ bank - centred ” financial system to one in which firms, including smaller firms, can directly tap market financing is an ambitious objective, attainable over a lengthy time horizon. it may require significant legal and fiscal adjustments. it presupposes changes in the behaviour of banks and firms. in the transition between these two models of corporate finance, consideration should be given to the possibility of exploiting synergies from combining intermediaries ’ activities with those of the markets. one such possibility is offered by securitizations, which allow the separation of the typical banking functions – screening borrowers and originating loans, which continue to be performed by the bank – from financing proper, which is shifted to the market. in practical terms, the securities generated constitute the synthetic replica of a bond portfolio, but with the significant difference that the task of debtor selection and screening is left to the bank, not to the final investor, as in the case of corporate bonds. the senior tranche of an assetbacked security, unlike the underlying loan, can be sufficiently transparent and liquid to be placed with unsophisticated investors. securitizations accordingly enable firms to reach institutional investors without bearing the costs of stock exchange listing or bond issues. they enable purchasers to delegate the task of procuring information to banks, which are in a better position to perform it. in addition, securitizations can alleviate the problem of mismatching of demand and supply that can arise in illiquid markets when companies have trouble issuing securities because “ there ’ s no demand ” while demand itself is slack because the scarcity of outstanding securities means that for investors “ it ’ s

2. 5 per cent. as the federal reserve has emphasized in its press releases, monetary conditions continue to be accommodative. the markets expect further increases in interest rates in the coming months, for a total of 50 basis points. the federal budget deficit rose to 3. 5 per cent of gdp in 2003. in the fiscal year that ended last september the ratio was virtually unchanged. if no new measures are adopted, and including the additional funds being finalized to cover defence spending, the deficit is expected to decline to 3. 3 per cent of gdp in 2005. the us president has announced that the objective of budget policy will be to halve the ratio of the deficit to gdp by 2009, mainly by curbing expenditure. he stated that the priorities for his new term of office included reforming the public pay - as - you - go pension system, which currently provides benefits to around 45 million people for an annual outlay of $ 500 billion, or less than 5 per cent of gdp. the aim of the proposed reform is to prevent the emergence of growing financial deficits from 2018 on ; it hinges on the introduction of individual accounts which would progressively be credited with part of the contributions presently paid into the public system. looking ahead, the imbalance in the us external accounts will be a drag on the american economy, and consequently on the world economy. the current account deficit continued to increase in 2004. the improvement in price competitiveness brought by the weakening of the dollar has had very little effect. in 2004 the deficit amounted to 5. 5 per cent of gdp ; in 2005 it will exceed 6 per cent. the net international investment position of the united states, which was practically in balance at the beginning of the 1990s, subsequently deteriorated, with net foreign debt rising to a quarter of gdp in 2004. the worsening of the external imbalance is basically linked to the growth gaps between the us economy on the one hand and the european and japanese economies on the other. the federal reserve has announced that there have been no major difficulties in financing the current account deficit, but it has also stressed that the growth in net foreign liabilities cannot continue indefinitely at the present rate. in order to maintain a rapid pace of capital formation, the federal reserve has called for a reduction in the budget deficit and measures to increase household saving. in japan, economic activity slackened in the course of 2004, after expanding by around 7 per cent on an annual basis in the first quarter. exports, which had been growing