Consumer Debt and Financial Fragility: Evidence from Italy

Abstract

This paper focuses on the consumer credit market in Italy and the related risk of over-indebtedness. Using panel data from the Survey on Household Income and Wealth, we investigate the role of households financial fragility on the use and increase in consumer debt over time, evaluating, in particular, whether there exists a statistically significant relationship between the growth in the use of consumer credit and the increase in the proportion of indebted households that are in a negative financial situation.