This paper investigates empirically whether the relation between finance and growth depends on a specific type of financing. I construct a novel panel data set for 34 high income countries over the time period from 1995 to 2014 based on financial accounts data. It allows distinguishing between...

The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the natural resource curse, which postulates a negative link between natural resource abundance and economic growth. It shows empirically that resource-rich countries appear to have a less developed financial system and investigates a potential...

This technical note on the Republic of Poland underlies the country’s credit, growth, and financial stability. A broad-based statistical and econometric analysis of financial and household balance sheet data implies that exchange rate-related credit risk and liquidity risk are currently...

In this paper, we analyze the growth effects of historical and biological ancestry, diversity and financial development in transition economies. We show that the common indicators of ethnolinguistic fractionalization, state history and genetic distance yield significant results and to some...

This paper explores the impact of antiquity on capitalism through the finance-growth nexus. We define antiquity as the length of established statehood (i.e., state history) and agricultural years. We argue that extractive institutions and deeply entrenched interest groups may prevail in...

This Selected Issues paper and Statistical Appendix summarizes the factors explaining Vanuatu’s recent growth performance, which has weakened since the mid-1990s. The paper highlights that Vanuatu’s annual rate of growth averaged 3⁄4 percent during 1997–2001, compared with 43⁄4 percent...

This Selected Issues paper on Ghana shows that as a small, open low-income economy, the country faces several major challenges in its conduct of disinflation policy. Ghana has historically experienced volatile and often high inflation rates. The paper also presents a model that recognizes...

This paper reviews trends in GDP and other macroeconomic variables since independence. It assesses the performance of the different sectors of the economy and expenditure categories. The paper identifies a number of products that could contribute to maintaining the high growth rate that...

This technical note assesses the vulnerabilities of household and corporate sector balance sheets and quantifies the potential impacts from macroeconomic shocks using sensitivity and contingent claims analyses. The note analyzes the risks to the Spanish financial stability arising from household...