, specific studies have been carried out on various topics, like unit non - response, measurement errors, underreporting and micro - macro reconciliation. this long experience has taught us that in sample surveys the adoption of best practices in the collection of survey data can significantly increase the reliability of estimates. moreover, if the move towards the standards is widespread, comparisons are also positively affected by the change, adding value to each statistical source. for a number of years the bank of italy has been promoting projects aimed at harmonizing shiw data with those obtained from other surveys, such as the luxembourg income study and the luxembourg wealth study. in recent years our survey has become part of the eurosystem's household finance and consumption survey ( hfcs ), coordinated by the european central bank. the hfcs includes harmonized surveys on household income and wealth from 18 euro - area countries, as well as poland and hungary. the network of participants has proved to be a very valuable forum for exchanging experiences in conducting surveys and fostering the adoption of uniform best practices. we hope the expertise acquired on these technical grounds can be useful for the present project. in fact, at the present time, survey data do not always share common standards regarding sampling, coverage, definition of variables or valuations and estimation methods as more standard statistics like national accounts do. this is particularly true in the developing countries, which often face peculiar difficulties in conducting sample surveys, due to a lack of population lists, logistic problems in territories, and so on. improving the availability of reliable data production is a valuable ingredient for promoting evidence - based policy making ; this is why, although it is a costly exercise, it is crucial for low and middle - income countries to invest in this field. the cooperation starting today will initially focus on training with the objectives of improving the quality and coherence of international training for statistical capacity building on microdata, and of supporting training activities in these fields based in low and middle - income countries. in particular, the project will implement a training program for statistical capacity building in household surveys, through some week - long training courses and workshops, to be held in the bank of italy ’ s premises, and with training sessions in various statistical training centres in africa. by adopting a training of trainers ( tot ) approach, the project will exploit a multiplier effect, spreading the ability to deal with sample surveys beyond the participants and reaching a large number of low and middle income countries. a further

behavioural insights for conduct supervision introductory remarks by luigi federico signorini deputy governor of the bank of italy banca d ’ italia / finconet international seminar on financial consumer protection rome, 15 november 2019 it is my great pleasure to open the international seminar on financial consumer protection, jointly organized by finconet and the bank of italy. the theme of this seminar is the subject of much discussion and a driving force in the evolution of business conduct regulation and supervision. behavioural economics has provided important insights. we would be well advised to take them into account when framing regulations and performing supervisory tasks in the financial sector. understanding how people make economic choices is central to economics. economic models, however, will never be able to do justice to the full range of motivations, reasoning and impulses behind human behaviour. economics needs to simplify and select. at the same time, it needs to remain open - minded enough to see the pitfalls of simplifying assumptions. economic models have always been challenged over time, with new approaches subverting the conventional wisdom of the day ; as in all sound science, progress in economics has been driven by people challenging received wisdom, pointing out its flaws, and proposing corrections. yet it has always retained the basic concept that agents will respond to incentives and that in most circumstances the collective wisdom resulting from innumerable fallible individual choices is superior to comprehensive top - down planning, enlightened as the latter may be. adam smith did not have to invoke utility maximisation to conceive of the invisible hand, nor did ricardo to discover comparative advantage : two of the most counterintuitive, and most enduring, cornerstones of economics. ronald coase famously stated that “ there is no reason to suppose that most human beings are engaged in maximising anything unless it be unhappiness, and even this with incomplete success ” ; yet this ( half tongue - in - cheek ) assertion did not prevent him from formulating a theorem about the superiority of private contracts even with externalities, provided property rights are carefully laid down. 1 ¹ actually, as is well known, coase did not formulate a “ coase theorem ”, but he did lay down the theoretical foundations to what is known by that name. contemporary mainstream economics makes abundant use of formal models that specify what precise quantity is being maximised, and assume that agents make efficient use of whatever information is available. while such assumptions are extremely useful for developing insights into how the world