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Abstract. This paper studies the role of the expansion of higher education (HE) in increasing the equality of tertiary education opportunities. We examine Italy's experience during the 1990s, when policy changes prompted HE institutions to offer a wider range of degrees and to open new sites in neighbouring provinces. Our analysis focuses on non-mature full-time students and suggests that HE expansion might have had only limited effects in terms of reducing existing individual . He wishes to thank both institutions for providing him with excellent research facilities. The visit to ECASS was financially supported by the Access to Research Infrastructure action under the European Community's 'Improving Human Potential Programme', which is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Giuliana Matteocci and Alessio Ancaiani from the Ministry for Education for providing us with data on the evolution of the Italian university system and for valuable assistance with its use. We are also grateful to an anonymous referee and to Luigi Cannari, Piero Casadio, Massimo Omiccioli, Carmine Porello, Andrea Presbitero, Alfonso Rosolia, Paolo Sestito, and conference and seminar participants at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex, Colchester), the European University Institute (Florence), the University of Milan (Milan), the Marche Polytechnic University (Ancona), the Bank of Italy (Rome), the joint seminar ISFOL-University 'La Sapienza' (Rome), IZA (Bonn), the inequality in HE achievement as it had a significantly positive impact only on the probability of university enrolment but not on that of obtaining a university degree.

The paper examines micro data on Italian manufacturing firms' inventory behaviour to test the Meltzer (1960) hypothesis according to which firms substitute bank credit with trade credit (TC) during money tightening. We find that inventory investment of Italian manufacturing firms is constrained by their availability of TC and that this effect more than doubles during monetary restrictions. As for the magnitude of the substitution effect, however, we find that it is not sizeable. This is in line with the micro theories of TC and the evidence on actual firm practices, according to which credit terms display modest variations over time.

The paper investigates the importance of history for local economic performance in Italy by studying the role of social capital, which refers to trust, reciprocity and habits of co-operation that are shared among members of a local community. The paper presents a test based on worker productivity, entrepreneurship, and female labor market participation. Using as instruments regional differences in civic involvement in the late 19th century and local systems of government in the middle ages, it shows that social capital does have economic effects.