FACULTY AND RESEARCH

This study explores the third type of agency problem concerning the tension between shareholders and stakeholders. It does so by analysing whether small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) eligible for a temporary debt suspension programme favour the short-term interests of their shareholders or stakeholders, or the firm's long-term competitiveness. Using information from an Italian debt moratorium programme aimed at alleviating the financial pressure on SMEs during the financial crisis, we built a rich database of 37,465 limited liability companies eligible for the programme between 2006 and 2015. We then used a difference-in-differences model to analyse the data. Our findings indicate that the debt suspension programme, designed to help eligible firms survive temporary financial constraints, did promote their long-term competitiveness. However, it also produced some undesirable consequences, such as benefiting shareholders in the short term at the expense of other key stakeholders.