Although credit rating agencies have gradually moved away from a policy of never rating a corporation above the sovereign (the 'sovereign ceiling'), it appears that sovereign credit ratings remain a significant determinant of corporate credit ratings. We examine this link using data for advanced...

Using household surveys and bank penetration data at the district-level in 2006 and 2009, this paper examines the impact of Equity Bank—a leading private commercial bank focusing on microfinance—on the access to banking in Kenya. Unlike other commercial banks in Kenya, Equity Bank pursues...

This paper empirically examines whether the effect of financial openness on private credit depends on the market structure of the banking sector prior liberalization. We find that financial openness has a positive effect on private credit in countries characterized by a highly competitive...

Using a new data set on corporate bonds placed in international markets by advanced and emerging market borrowers, this paper demonstrates that the impact of debt market illiquidity on corporate bond spreads is exacerbated with a higher proportion of short-term debt. This effect is stronger in...

Using a novel panel data set for international corporate bonds and capital account restrictions in advanced and emerging economies, we find that restrictions on capital inflows produce a substantial and economically meaningful increase in corporate bond spreads. By contrast, we find no robust...

This paper investigates the African financial development and financial inclusion gaps relative to other peer developing countries.  Using a set of variables related to financial development and inclusion, we first estimate the gaps between African countries and other developing countries with...