This dissertation aims at empirically analyzing different aspects of the economics and financial behaviour of households and the financial decision making of firms, using micro data. The first chapter (Chapter 2) investigates whether the expectations on receiving an inheritance act as a driver for economic choices such as accumulation and decumulation of wealth, as well as for the willingness to bequeath and for labour supply decisions. The second chapter (Chapter 3) focuses on the realization of inheritance/gift receipt, proposing an analysis on the effect of having received an inheritance or an inter-vivos transfer on a more intimate aspect of individuals’ lives: divorcing. Eventually, the last chapter (Chapter 4), which makes use of a representative dataset for the year 2015 of Italian firms, investigates whether the gender of the decision-maker of the firm affects credit demand and credit approval.