This paper surveys the economic literature on the links between finance, law and growth in the Central and Eastern European transition countries. The literature that is surveyed at the outset of the paper shows that if a financial system is based on an adequate legal system it can positively...

One of the most enduring debates in economics is whether financial development causes economic growth or whether it is a consequence of increased economic activity. Little research into this question, however has used a true causality framework. This paper fills this lacuna by using...

This paper analyses the development of the banking sector in twelve transition countries. Foreign banks have become major players in the financial system of these countries. Still, foreign bank presence and financial development in general vary considerably between these economies. Distance from...

This paper develops a simple and practical framework for characterizing (long-run) economic growth and fluid capital accumulation under shifting technological change. The framework specifies a technological change that depends on exogenous and endogenous factors as well as the interaction...

Countries with more developed financial sectors experience less fluctuations in real per capita output, consumption and investment growth. However, the manner in which the financial sector develops matters. The relative importance of banks in the financial system is important in explaining...

An overlapping generations model with two production factors and two types of agents is considered in presence of …nancial intermediation. The research focuses at the analysis of the consequences of a suddain negative production shock on a …nancial intermediation capacities and consequently...

The paper focuses on a comparison of bank-based andmarket-based …nancial systems with respect to their ability to smooth the negative consequences of a macroeconomic shock. The model describes a two-market OLG economy with two types of agents (workers and entrepreneurs) and a financial system...

The ‘Cuban safety-valve theory’ explains sustained survival of Cuban socialism in part through the high levels of emigration, following Hirschman’s model of ‘exit’ undermining ‘voice’. The article argues that this remains insufficient in two important ways. Taking a closer look at...

This research develops a theory about the role of within-country income inequality leading to overtaking in economic performance among countries. The theory captures two opposing effects of inequality on factor accumulation and suggests that the qualitative change in their combined effect is a...

The paper assumes a continuum of two period-lived agents; agents are identical except for the inherited income. Young agents optimally allocate their inherited income between consumption and investment in human capital in a stochastic environment. In the second period they receive a wage...