An empirical analysis of the impact of banking regulations on sustainable financial inclusion in the CEMAC region

Based on a panel analysis of six countries over the period 2004–2018, this study examines the impact of financial regulation on sustainable financial inclusion (FI) in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) region. Using different approaches to estimate FI, we ?nd that banking regulation has a positive impact on FI. In particular, our ?ndings suggest that regulations for monitoring entry into the financial sector, external reporting and audits, and deposit insurance contribute sustainably to an increase in FI. In addition, banking regulations help the region to attract foreign direct investment and boost economic growth. An important policy implication of this paper is that CEMAC regulators should enhance synergy with mobile telephone network providers to promote digital FI, as it offers a low-cost option for promoting FI, especially for people living in areas underserved by mainstream financial institutions.     

THE IMF: A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF ITS ROLE AND OPERATIONS

Abstract The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the world's premier international financial institution with 184 member countries and active programmes in a significant number of them at any one time. The Fund attracts a great deal of attention, much of it critical. But the discussion is often polemic in style. Strongly held, but frequently opposing, views are expressed. This survey attempts to examine, in an objective way, the theory and evidence relating to the Fund's operations. Many aspects of the empirical research are relatively recent and a universal consensus is yet to emerge; as a consequence there is scope for disagreement to persist. However, the research is also gradually clarifying many important issues. The format for the survey is to examine the life cycle of IMF arrangements. What makes a country turn to the Fund for assistance? Should the IMF be lending? What influences the outcome of negotiations and the design of programmes? Are IMF programmes effective? And why do some countries make prolonged use of IMF resources? For completeness there is also some discussion of the history of the IMF, the extent to which Fund policies have been influenced by advances in economic theory and the Fund's systemic role. Important organisational and governance issues are also covered briefly. Although primarily adopting an economist's perspective, the survey reflects the growing recognition that in order to understand the IMF's operations, economics has to be combined with politics. Examining the IMF is an exercise in applied political economy.     

MAPPING THE EVOLUTION OF ENERGY‐GROWTH NEXUS: SYNERGIES AND TRADE‐OFFS

The study explores the intellectual structure, development and evolution of energy crisis and economic growth research through bibliometric analysis of research articles on energy‐growth nexus from 2000 to 2017 by using Citespace where Gephi is used to analyse the authors collaboration. The analysis incorporates 27,152 references cited by 344 authors, in 1165 articles and from 330 journals. The results of study quantitatively present the most cited articles, authors, countries, institutions and intellectual structure with data visualization in the knowledge domain of energy‐growth nexus. The study categorizes the major research areas in energy‐growth nexus research as carbon dioxide emission, electricity consumption, heterogeneous Panel, real income, renewable energy and financial development. The study discusses emerging trends which provide the future research fronts and intellectual development within the framework of energy‐growth nexus.     

MEASUREMENT,EVOLUTION, DETERMINANTS,AND CONSEQUENCES OF STATE CAPACITY: A REVIEW OF RECENT RESEARCH

There is increasing realization that state capacity is a fundamental ingredient for effective governance, and is a crucial element of long‐run economic development. This paper offers an overview of the strengths and limitations in current empirical research on the measurement of state capacity. The paper also surveys the fast emerging literature on the determinants and effects of state capacity. We argue that existing measures on governance quality used in cross‐national research can be usefully exploited to capture different aspects of state capacity, and show that post the end of the Cold War, developing economies have experienced improvements in legal, administrative and bureaucratic capacity, but the gap with advanced economies is still wide. Future research should address the short temporal coverage of available measures of state capacity, as well as providing a systematic quantitative assessment of the determinants of capacity and of its effects on development outcomes, such as health and education, which have not received sufficient scrutiny.     

Intergovernmental Organisations and Economic Freedom: Wise Technocrats or Black Helicopters?

This article explores the relationship between country membership in major intergovernmental organisations and economic freedom. While it makes no claims to have found any broad theoretically bound, robust causal mechanism, baseline fixed effects models establish relationships amongst economic freedom and membership in the EU, NATO, WTO, UN, OECD, World Bank, and IMF. Though the results are not simple, the strongest findings are negative relationships with the UN, IMF, and WTO, and positive relationships with the World Bank and possibly the EU.     

A SURVEY OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITERATURE OF FINANCE AND GROWTH

Abstract.  This paper provides a survey of the recent progress in the literature of financial development and economic growth. The survey highlights that most empirical studies focus on either testing the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth or examining the direction of causality between these two variables. Although the positive role of finance on growth has become a stylized fact, there are some methodological reservations about the results from these empirical studies. Several key issues unresolved in the literature are highlighted. The paper also points to several directions for future research.     

How corruption affects bank lending in Russia

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of corruption on bank lending in Russia. This issue is of major interest in order to understand the causes of financial underdevelopment and the effects of corruption in Russia. We use regional measures of corruption and bank-level data to perform this investigation. Our main estimations show that corruption hampers bank lending in Russia. We investigate whether this negative role of corruption is influenced by the degree of bank risk aversion, but find no effect. The detrimental effect of corruption is only observed for loans to households and firms, in opposition to loans to government. Additional controls confirm the detrimental impact of corruption on bank lending. Therefore, our results provide motivations to fight corruption to favor bank lending in Russia.     

Editorial introduction: Is the World Bank lending effective in developing countries?

This special issue of Economic Systems includes five papers about the World Bank lending in developing countries. The motivation for the special issue stems from the relatively extensive literature on the sister institution, namely, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but not on the World Bank itself. The papers’ focus is the influence of the World Bank lending on economic growth, education and health, poverty reduction, and regulation in the recipient countries. The papers’ findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of the World Bank lending in developing countries, which reflects both successes and shortcomings.     

A NEW VISION OF THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Abstract.  To date, more than half of the output in the major OECD countries has been knowledge based. This paper argues, however, that the current growth-oriented exposition of the knowledge economy rooted in the conventional concept of free competition is insufficient for promoting the long-term development of human societies. Although we now live in a knowledge economy, most countries have been concurrently characterized by serious phenomena such as environmental degradation and growing economic inequality. The prospect of meeting global commitments, for instance, to reducing inequality, as outlined in the 1995 World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and endorsed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, is bleak and the global society as a whole has become less and less sustainable. Indeed, the world is better seen as composed of numerous (but finite) knowledge economies. To take up the challenge of sustainable development of human societies, we have to develop a pluralistic perspective of the knowledge economy and fully acknowledge the characteristics of each unique knowledge system (such as indigenous knowledge possessed by a small tribe). Once we can help each individual knowledge system develop into a specific set of economic institutions that freely exchange concepts and beliefs with each other in a global environment, we will be able to develop a global economy that embodies a value-committed basis that assures a sustainable path of development on earth.     

A SURVEY OF THE EVOLUTION OF QUEUEING THEORY

The evolution of queueing theory is sketched from its origin in Teletraffic, via its growth to maturity as a mathematical discipline in Operations Research, to its present position as an indispensable tool in the performance analysis of complex computer—and communication networks. The Dutch postwar contributions to this evolution receive some special attention, on the occasion of the celebration of the Dutch Society for Statistics and 'Operations Research' fourth decennium.     

THE TERM STRUCTURE OF INTEREST RATES: EVIDENCE AND THEORY

Abstract. The term structure of interest rates is an old topic. Over the years, both the hypotheses debated and the research techniques used have changed considerably. Two fairly recent developments which distinguish current research are the widespread adoption of rational expectations and the integration of the term structure with the general theory of asset pricing. This survey reviews previous work from this perspective. The main objective is to catalogue available evidence about term premia and to interpret this evidence in light of alternative models of term premia determination.     

利郎 简约主义进化论

<正>2008年,利郎纯利大幅上升60%,预期2009年纯利达2.8亿元人民币中国作为服装生产和消费大国,历来是国内外品牌厮杀的战场。无论是世界级的顶尖品牌、还是中国近年来引领潮流的本土品牌,都在使出浑身解数力争在中国的服装     

世界银行的森林战略和政策述评

对世界银行各阶段森林战略和政策进行介绍和评价。世界银行在其援助贷款活动中实施森林战略和政策,是为保护森林资源提供资金保障,推进森林保护国际法律框架的形成。     

INSTITUTIONS,ECONOMICS AND THE DEVELOPMENT QUEST

Institutions crucial for the analysis of how agents deal with uncertainty have been gaining increasing relevance on the economic research agenda. In this paper, we analyze the institutional literature aiming to explain why this perspective obtains better results than others in development economics. In particular, we stress the relevance of New Institutional Economics as an adequate framework for a broad understanding of development issues.     

THE IMPACT OF THE PRODUCT/PRODUCTION PROCESS INTERACTION ON THE EVOLUTION OF STRATEGIC RESPONSE

This article synthesizes previous research on the interaction between product and production process, and the impact of that interaction on the evolution of strategic response. This interaction has major implications for the competitiveness and productivity of the firm. The authors identify characteristics of the interaction that allow a more complete analysis of its relation to firm strategic response, productivity and competitiveness.     

World Bank lending and regulation

Does World Bank lending promote deregulation with stronger incentives and critical resources or slow the process by blunting the impact of crises and indirectly promoting state control? This paper analyzes empirical links between aid flows and regulatory burden. Econometric estimates based on panel data for 83 aid receiving countries over 5 year periods from 1970 to 2000 find that World Bank lending, while not specifically targeting high or low regulatory states, is linked to lower subsequent regulation. This link holds for multilateral donors more broadly while bilateral donor funds apparently fail to influence the level of regulation.     

Impact of World Bank lending in an adjustment-led growth model

Within a financial- and growth-programming framework, this paper develops a policy-driven growth model and addresses the effects of World Bank lending on economic growth in a sample of 30 countries, after having controlled for the effects of key macroeconomic variables. Both static and dynamic panel estimates suggest a positive significant effect of the rate of growth in World Bank lending on economic growth, conditional on other variables, namely changes in exchange rate, domestic credit growth, and inflation. Empirical evidence also reveals the positive effect of a macroeconomic policy index in this sample of developing countries.     

THE CLIOMETRICS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION: A SURVEY

Abstract This is a survey of some of the key studies in the literature on international migration in history that may be described as cliometric. This literature uses the concepts and approaches of applied economics to investigate a range of historical issues and there are strong parallels with the questions that have been addressed in the literature on contemporary migrations. Here I focus on the period 1850–1940 and chiefly on migration from Europe to the New World. The survey is organized around six themes that include the forces driving migration, over time and across space; the assimilation of migrants and their effects on wages and income distribution in source and destination countries; and the evolution of immigration policy. Although this literature has drawn heavily on the tool kit of applied economists it also provides a wider perspective on many of the issues that concern migration today.