This paper builds on the case of West African banks to propose an analysis of the issues raised by government interference, privatization to foreign investors and regulation in developing countries. In the late 80s, there was a severe crisis in the West African banking system, partly due to...

We estimate a structural model of financing choices in presence of managerial moral hazard, financial distress costs and taxes. In the theoretical model, firms with low cost of managerial effort, and high financial distress costs and non--debt tax shields, find it optimal to issue equity....