Sex,language and financial inclusion*

Reference to gender in language can lead individuals to draw distinctions between genders and reinforce traditional views of gender roles. To test our hypothesis that language gender marking exerts an influence on the gender gap in financial inclusion, we draw on data for 117 countries in the World Bank's Global Findex database and perform logit estimations at the individual level. We find the gender gap in the probability of owning a formal account, having access to a formal credit, as well as having savings in a formal financial institution is higher for countries with gendered languages than for countries with genderless languages. These findings are confirmed in robustness checks that control for alternative measures of culture and estimations at the country level.     

Reducing farmers' poverty vulnerability in China: The role of digital financial inclusion

This paper applies exogenous shocks to investigate the impact of digital financial inclusion (DFI) on farmers' poverty vulnerability in China. We find that farmers in highly developed DFI areas are less vulnerable to the poverty trap. The result is robust to various checks, including propensity score matching and difference-in-differences method and the instrumental variable approach. Moreover, we find that income diversification is the possible economic channel through which DFI affects farmers' poverty vulnerability. Further analyses show that DFI has a “targeting” effect on those who are poor and vulnerable, and a synergistic effect by working with medical insurance and informal finance in terms of reducing farmers' poverty vulnerability. Our research findings provide new theoretical insights and useful guidance in enhancing financial inclusiveness and sustainable development in the post-COVID-19 era.     

Modelling the causes and manifestation of bank stress: an example from the financial crisis

In this study, I model the predictors and manifestation of bank stress during the financial crisis using a Multiple Indicator Multiple Cause model. Unlike most early warning models that predict failure probabilities, this article describes a framework for predicting a broader notion of bank stress that need not rely on regulatory decisions. As such, this method can be easily applied to large institutions, and avoids the complications associated with modelling a regulatory decision such as failure or a CAMELS downgrade. Using bank reliance on Term Auction Facility funds and the out-of-sample incidence of failures and acquisitions, I demonstrate that the measure of bank stress generated here accords with other notions of bank-level distress. Finally, this method catalogues predictors of distress during the financial crisis. Thus, this article can help assess the validity of several recent regulatory proposals. I find that those banks entering the crisis with more Tier 1 capital, more liquid balance sheets, and relatively stable liabilities subsequently came under less stress. These findings support the Basel III recommended increases in banks’ capital adequacy, liquidity and stable funding.     

Credit supply,post-acquisition performance and financial constraints

We study the effect of credit supply on the acquisition behaviour of financially constrained (FC) and financially unconstrained (UC) firms. FC firms are likely to conduct acquisitions when credit supply is greater while UC firms can conduct acquisitions whenever a good opportunity arises. We argue that the flexibility unconstrained firms have is valuable. Our empirical results indicate that UC firms outperform FC firms up to 36 months after the acquisition. We also find that increased credit supply increases the probability of conducting mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for FC firms while it has less impact on M&A behaviour of UC firms.     

The financial and economic performance of social banks

ABSTRACT

The financial crisis of 2008 provides evidence for the instability of the conventional banking system. Social banks may present a viable alternative for conventional banks. This article analyses the performance of social banks related to the bank business model, economic efficiency, asset quality, and stability by comparing social banks with banks where the difference is likely to be large, namely with the 30 global systemically important banks (G-SIBs) of the Financial Stability Board over the period 2000–2014. We also analyse the relative impact of the global financial crisis on the bank performance. The performance of social banks and G-SIBs is surprisingly similar.     

National culture and financial literacy: international evidence

ABSTRACT

We examine to what extent (aspects of) national culture can explain cross-country variations in financial literacy. Our results, for a sample of 92 countries, show that Hofstede’s dimensions of power distance and individualism explain, respectively, over 40 and 60 per cent – which is substantially more than national cognitive scores and standard economic variables. In particular, we find that financial literacy is lower in countries where power distance is high, and that the opposite is true for individualism. Uncertainty avoidance would seem be negatively related with financial literacy, but the evidence is not so strong. For masculinity, indulgence, and long-term orientation we find no significant impact. Overall, our results highlight the need for additional (interdisciplinary) theories that can improve our understanding of the determinants of financial literacy and better guide policies in this area.     

孟加拉国国乡村银行运作模式对中国农村金融体制改革的启示

随着中国现代农业发展及新农村建设的稳步推进，农村金融市场多元化竞争格局已经形成。然而，农村领域金融资源的流失，金融服务难以适应新形势的要求等问题已成为制约中国农村经济、社会发展的瓶颈。盂加拉国银行家穆罕默德。尤努斯及其创办的乡村银行因为其帮助穷人摆脱贫困和创造社会发展机会方面的贡献而荣获2006年度诺贝尔和平奖。本文结合中国农村金融服务现状，借鉴盂加拉国国乡村银行运行的经验，提出了新时期深化农村金融体制改革，积极推追现代农业与新农村建设的若干启示与建议。     

Gender differences in financial performance: new empirical evidence

This article provides new empirical evidence on gender differences in self-reported and observed financial performance. Using a quasi-experimental framework, comparing people who live in a matrilineal and a patrilineal environment in India, the results show that no significant gender differences in observed and self-reported performance exist among respondents who belong to the matrilineal culture. In contrast, women who live in a patrilineal environment self-report more often than men that they are not dealing well with economic and financial problems. However, no significant gender differences in observed financial performance are found.     

CSR and financial performance: complementarity between environmental,social and business behaviours

This article analyses the interactions between various dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) that mediate the relationship between CSR and financial performance. We hypothesize that the absence of consensus in the empirical literature on the CSR–financial performance relationship may be explained by the existence of synergies (complementarity) and trade-offs (substitutability) between the different CSR components. We investigate such relationship using a final unbalanced panel sample of 1094 observations (around 300 firms per year) from 15 countries over the 2002–2007 period. Our results show that responsible behaviours towards employees (human resources dimension) and towards customers and suppliers (business behaviour dimension) appear as complementary inputs of financial performance, indicating mutual benefits and less conflict between those stakeholders. Conversely, responsible behaviours towards customers and suppliers and towards the environment appear as substitutable inputs of financial performance, suggesting more conflict between or over-investment towards those stakeholders.     

The International Labour Organization and the ambivalent politics of financial inclusion in West Africa

This article examines the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in promoting ‘financial inclusion’ in West Africa. The role of the ILO in microfinance and financial inclusion has often been overlooked, in contrast to the role played by the World Bank, G20 and like institutions. The ILO is significant here because it suggests a number of ambiguities and important political dynamics that have gone overlooked in previous critical discussions of microcredit, which have often focused on the politics of commercialisation, indebtedness and accumulation by dispossession. This article draws instead on Gramsci’s concepts of subalternity and organic crisis to suggest that the politics of ‘financial inclusion’ in practice are often shaped as much by the political dynamics engendered by the erosion of postcolonial order as by the imperatives of accumulation. The argument is illustrated empirically by examining ILO activities on microinsurance and ‘inclusive finance for workers’ in West Africa, with an emphasis on Senegal.     

Commercial bank ownership and performance in China

This study examines the determinants of bank performance based on proxy variables that assess the quality of assets, profitability, liquidity and overall performance. Using a sample of 111 Chinese commercial banks over the period of 2000–2012, we find that foreign banks appear to have better asset quality and overall performance although lower profitability compared to domestic banks. In contrast, the state-owned banks tend to be more profitable and have better liquidity position compared with other domestic banks and foreign banks. At bank level, equity/liability ratio exerts significant influence on overall bank performance, while at the macroeconomic level, per capital GDP, GDP growth, inflation and unemployment rates appear to have a bearing on bank performance.     

Prediction of bank financial strength ratings: The case of Turkey

Bank financial strength ratings have gained widespread popularity especially after the recent financial turmoil. Rating agencies were criticized because of their ratings and failure to predict the bankruptcy of the banks. Based on this observation, we investigate whether the forecast of the rating of bank's financial strength using publicly available data is consistent with those of the credit rating agency. We use the data of Turkish banks for this investigation. We take a country-specific approach because previous studies found that proxies used for environmental factors (political, economic, and financial risk of the country) did not have any explanatory power and it is hard to find international data for other important factors such as franchise value, concentration, and efficiency. We use two popular multivariate statistical techniques (multiple discriminant analysis and ordered logistic regression) to estimate a suitable model and we compare their performances with those of two mostly used data mining techniques (Support Vector Machine and Artificial Neural Network). Our results suggest that our predictions are consistent with those of Moody's financial strength rating in general.. The important factors in rating are found to be profitability (measured by return on equity), efficient use of resources, and funding the businesses and the households instead of the government that shows efficient placement of the funds.     

Adoption of mobile money and financial inclusion: a macroeconomic approach through cluster analysis

This paper investigates the patterns of adoption of mobile money in emerging and developing countries. Mobile money is a mobile-based service, which provides access to low-cost financial services for people excluded from the banking system. It is designed to overcome the difficulties related to entering the banking system and the unavailability of banking infrastructure. Drawing on macroeconomic comparative and case study analysis conducted by practitioner experts, this study takes a wide macroeconomic approach to the adoption of mobile money adoption in 2011 and 2014, based on the alternative strategy of cluster analysis. We exploit the new technology diffusion frameworks to evaluate dissimilarity among groups of countries with similar levels of adoption of mobile money. We investigate whether adoption of mobile money services are highest in countries where access to formal banking services is lowest. Our analytical results support the predictions in the technology diffusion literature and nuance the potential of mobile money as a tool to counter banking exclusion.     

天津财政收入与GDP关系的协整分析与误差修正模型研究

利用协整理论对1978--2006年天津市财政收入与GDP之间的关系进行实证研究,结论是：天津市财政收入与GDP之间存在长期稳定均衡的协整关系和短期动态调整机制;天津市财政收入与GDP之间存在Granger因果关系;通过误差修正模型可以具体解释协整关系背后的内在原因和作用机制。     

Financial liberalization,financial regulation and bank efficiency: a multi-country analysis

This article investigates the impact of financial reforms on bank efficiency. More specifically, we distinguish between two different types of financial reforms, i.e. financial liberalization measures and measures of the quality of bank regulation and supervision (i.e. financial regulation), and study their relationship to bank efficiency separately. Moreover, we analyse whether the impact of financial liberalization on bank efficiency is conditional on the quality of regulation and supervision of the banking system. We apply stochastic frontier analysis to calculate bank efficiency at the individual bank level and use a new and detailed database that measures different aspects of financial reforms. The data-set consists of 87 312 bank-year observations covering 61 countries for the period 1996–2005. Overall, we show that the impact of financial liberalization policies on bank efficiency is conditional on the extent to which bank regulation and supervision has been adopted and developed.     

Exploring the relationship between CSR performance and financial constraints: empirical evidence from European firms

This paper investigates the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and financial constraints. Our panel dataset consists of 397 European companies listed in the STOXX Europe 600 during 2009–2014. The findings reveal that firms with higher CSR performance exhibit lower degree of financial constraints. In addition, the link between CSR performance and financial constraints is a fully mediated relationship. The negative effect of CSR performance on financial constraints follows the path through mitigating agency conflicts of free cash flow and information asymmetry. The findings suggest that one mechanism linking CSR performance and financial constraints is a reduction of capital-market imperfections.     

Owner-managers and firm performance during the asian and global financial crises: evidence from Korea

We examine the performance of the Korean owner-managers during the 1997?1998 Asian financial crisis and the 2008?2009 global financial crisis to establish whether they overcome the unexpected exterior shocks better than employed managers. We find that the owner-managers record a significantly greater performance during the crises, and especially during the latter period. Moreover, our results suggest that such a tendency comes from the owner-managers’ superior investment decisions. Our paper thus highlights the role of owner-managers by studying their performance during the Korean economic crisis periods. (JEL G01, G32, G34)     

Executive remuneration and financial performance in Brazilian companies

The objective of this study is to investigate the existence of a relationship between executive remuneration and financial performance in 28 Brazilian companies from the industrial sector. These companies have been selected among those companies elected as ＂The Best Companies to Work for in Brazil＂. In order to operationalize the remuneration variable, the authors use the monthly salary, the variable salary and three indexes--of benefits, career and professional development--which have been created especially for this survey. To measure financial performance, the authors use three accounting measures： sales growth, return on equity （ROE） and return on sales （ROS）. The results point the existence of a relationship between executive remuneration and financial performance.     

Bank loan versus financial lease: how do traditional and innovative approaches within the banking sector influence economic growth? A comparative analysis between the US and China

ABSTRACT

The argument over the effects of financial structures on economic growth remains unsettled. This study, therefore, compares the dynamic correlation and lead–lag relationship between the different financial approaches within the banking sector (that is, traditional bank loans versus innovative financial leasing) and economic growth. We employ a continuous wavelet analysis using time-series data from 1982–2017 from the US (the world’s largest developed country) and China (the world’s largest developing country). The empirical results show that (1) episodes of significant correlation usually emerge during periods of reform, crisis or policy implementation; and (2) in China, traditional banking promotes economic growth in the long term, while the real economy only imputes the evolution of banks during critical economic reforms in the short term. Meanwhile, financial leasing could only promote the development of the real economy under suitable regulation; and (3) in the US, before the crises, the irrational growth of the real economy could increase bank assets, while during the crises, the traditional banking approach harms economic growth, and after the crises, financial leases play an important role in recovery. Therefore, we suggest that policymakers should establish adequate policies and regulations to solve the situation.     

On the impact of financial development on income distribution: time-series evidence

Financial market development is said to have equalizing or unequalizing effects on income distribution. Previous research used cross-sectional and panel data and provided mixed results. Suspecting that they suffer from aggregation bias, we adhere to time-series data and error-correction modeling technique and address the issue one more time in each of the 17 countries for which we have time-series data. In 10 counties, short-run effects of financial market development on income distribution were found to be equalizing. In five countries, the effects were unequalizing. However, the equalizing effects lasted into the long run only in three countries of Denmark, Kenya and Turkey.