The papers published in this volume result from a research effort sponsored by the Banca Commerciale Italiana, whose purpose was to evaluate the economic effects of the liberalisation process. We believe that – in this period of transition to a freer economic environment – banks should pay adequate attention to the agents' responses induced by the effort towards European unification and by the ongoing process of financial liberalisation; in particular, it is necessary to anticipate the behaviour of households, non-financial firms, financial intermediaries, and the workings of financial markets, in order to set up appropriate corporate strategies to face the challenge of increasing competitive pressures.

The research work published here logically follows an analogous initiative carried out some years ago. As in that case, the present work was carried out by a team comprising economists working with the BCI Research and Planning Unit and economics professors from various universities. In fact, we have an old tradition of strict relationship between bank and academia, based on the belief that only joint work can produce results whose relevance encompasses banking practice as well as economic theory. Both methodology and results of the papers have therefore been discussed with members of several divisions of BCI, although the research team's independence was also guaranteed.