The efficient allocation of monetary reserves (liquidity), risk and financial resources, is of crucial importance for the success of a market economy. In the hypothesis of perfect financial markets, the achievement of those objectives is guaranteed by optimizing choices operated individually by individual households and businesses. However, as demonstrated by a vast theoretical and empirical literature, financial markets, and in particular capital market, are generally characterized by substantial information asymmetries between the various categories of economic subjects participating both on the demand and the supply side, and other forms of rigidity or transaction costs. Such imperfections can generate sufficiently high transaction costs by limiting financial instruments and risk management available to families and businesses, especially to small firms, which are typical of the regional productive context. Consequently, the management of the liquidity needed to make payments and the allocation of financial resources are sub-optimal or inefficient. These inefficiencies have important negative consequences on the macro level, affecting investment returns, employment, economic development and, ultimately, the level of economic well-being of households. The analysis of the microeconomic determinants of access to credit, management of liquidity and risk for families and small businesses, is appropriate to assess public policies such as: (i) funding programs provided for by national and regional laws for individuals (households and businesses); (ii) Fund Microcredit ESF, economic policy measures launched by the Sardinia Region under the European Social Fund and managed by the Financial Company of the Sardinia Region (Società Finanziaria Regione Sardegna, SFIRS). The project is divided into the following phases: microeconomic analysis of the determinants of access to credit, management of liquidity and risk for families and small businesses; evaluation of the following public policies: subsidized credit programs for small and medium-sized enterprises; Microcredit Program run by SFIRS; Policies to improve the quality of banking services.   Scientific referee: Francesco Lippi (flippi@uniss.it)   The project is funded by Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (L.R. 7/2007).