Filippo L. Calciano is a professor of economics at the University of Rome 3 and director of the International Cooperation Department at the Luigi Sturzo Institute (ILS) in Rome. He has a professional and academic interest in corporate finance and financial economics, as well as academic interests in game theory and microeconomics. He holds a Ph.D. and a masters degree in Economics from the Centre for Operations Research and Econometrics (Louvain University) and the University of Pennsylvania. Franco Fiordelisi is Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of Rome III (Italy). He is the president of the Financial Intermediation Network of European Studies (FINEST) and affiliated faculty member at the SDA Bocconi, Milan. He was visiting research scholar at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, U.S. (in 2011, Fulbright Scholarship) and at the European Central Bank (in 2010). His work has been published in top finance journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Journal of International Money and Finance. Giovanni Scarano is Professor of Economic Policy and President of the School of Economics and Business Studies at the Roma Tre University. His major academic interests today lie in monetary policy, business cycles and corporate finance, having concentrated his focus on natural resource and development issues over the past years.