Court leadership turnover slows bankruptcy delays and expands credit
Court-president turnover slows the growth of bankruptcy delays and expands bank lending in Italy. A Bank of Italy paper published on October 13, 2026, finds investment reallocation toward intangible assets only among large firms.
Slower delays, broader credit
Across 140 Italian courts during 2015–2022, leadership turnover lowers bankruptcy-duration growth relative to controls by 6.8 percentage points in year one and 15.5 in year four.
These are growth differentials, not direct reductions in days; effects are statistically significant in years two through four.
Other civil categories show no statistically significant effects.
Late-payment probability falls 0.10 percentage points from a 1.2 percent baseline, an 8.3 percent relative decrease.
Short-term lending within existing relationships rises approximately 7 percent.
New bank–firm relationships increase 0.9 percentage points from a 13.5 percent baseline.
Total fixed assets do not increase; large firms' intangible share rises 1.1 percentage points and their tangible share falls 1.2.
Appointments as an enforcement experiment
Franco Fiordelisi, Davide Moretti, Nazzareno Ruggiero and Konstantinos Baltas use staggered difference-in-differences around court-president appointments.
Of 137 turnovers, 93.4 percent arise outside the High Council of the Judiciary's discretion.
Gains concentrate among younger presidents, those with managerial experience and those with local ties.
Age comparisons use a nine-year predecessor gap and an appointment-age threshold of 62. Credit and investment analysis covers 27 courts in four judicial districts.
The views are the authors', not the Bank of Italy's.
Management, not universal reform
The authors identify judicial management as a channel linking enforcement quality to credit access, not a stand-alone reform tool.
The baseline has only six never-treated courts, though broader-control checks retain the results.
Limited samples prevent joint tests of leadership characteristics.