Mentre in Europa il settore del microcredito si consolida e viene da più parti promosso come una delle risposte alla crisi economica e finanziaria, sul versante italiano si registrano preoccupanti segni di ritardo. A quasi un decennio dalle prime sperimentazioni, infatti, il microcredito nel nostro paese sembra ancora intrappolato in una fase di avviamento. Oltre ad analizzare le ragioni di tale mancato decollo, il volume illustra una serie di modelli operativi, tecniche e strategie di risposta finalizzati al superamento dei limiti del settore in Italia, inquadrandoli all’interno di una agenda di politiche per il microcredito.

While in Europe microcredit had been consolidating and promoted as one of the possible responses to the economic and financial crisis, in the Italian context the sector is showing worrying signs of underdevelopment and delay. Indeed, ten years on from the first experimental programmes, microcredit in Italy seems still trapped in the start-up phase. The volume identifies the causes behind this delay and analyses the reasons why the different microcredit supplies in Italy are not matching the new financial needs of microenterprises and families in an appropriate way. The volume provides, firstly, a systematic comparative analysis and evaluation of models and microcredit techniques currently adopted by microcredit institutions in Italy; secondly, it assesses the adequacy of different products and service typologies, given specific features of different segments of social and productive microcredit demand. Finally, building on the empirical results and the analyses provided, the volume proposes a series of new contextualized microcredit models as well as specific techniques and strategies for overcoming identified limits and constraints of the microcredit sector in Italy. The set of contextualised models and best practices are articulated within a microcredit policy framework.