We assess Euro Area financial integration correcting for the role of "onshore offshore financial centers" (OOFCs) within the Euro Area. The OOFCs of Luxembourg, Ireland, and the Netherlands serve dual roles as both hubs of investment fund intermediation and centers of securities issuance by...

Launched in 2018, the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) aims to establish a leading international financial center for financial services in Astana, as well as to attract foreign investment and support the growth and development of Kazakhstan and the region. Drawing from a model...

Qianhai - an innovation park in Shenzhen - has the possibility of boosting innovation in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and in the wider region. This paper reviews the existing evidence about which policies have promoted profitable innovation in the Qianhai region (Hong Kong and Shenzhen) in the past. We...

Investment funds hold a disproportionately larger fraction of domestic relative to foreign stocks. Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias. The literature neglects however that investors often invest in foreign funds...

What role does polyarchy (and thus increased democracy) play in aiding the development of an international financial centre? We find support for decades of theorising, in the globalization literatures as well as in others, that some jurisdictions use autocracy (less polyarchy) to help grow out...