Weak institutions are shown to create scope for public banks to play a positive role, even if such banks are less efficient than private banks.

We analyze the formality benefits through productivity-enhancing public goods. We document that: benefits from formality matter for firms’ optimal decisions; there is a disconnect between the objectives of maximizing formality versus welfare; this disconnect is mitigated under higher formality...

In a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, this note shows that beyond a certain low level, financial development is associated with higher relative consumption–income volatility in the presence of a working capital constraint. Informality on the other hand...

This paper examines the determinants of corruption in transition economies. We found that the progress of structural reform, comprising marketization, rule of law, and democratization had a crucial impact on the extent of corruption control in former socialist countries.

Discrimination against girls is well-documented, especially in Asia. We show that women try to level the playing field for their daughters by taking on debt. But wealth asymmetry between mothers and fathers perpetuates gender inequality across generations.

This paper examines the asymmetric response of the underground economy (UE) in Taiwan to an effective tax rate change. The UE size in Taiwan from 1962 to 2003 is estimated using a cash deposit ratio (CDR) approach and a currency demand approach. The impact of an increase in the effective tax...

Using data on 74 countries and a large number of controls, this paper finds that a higher degree of ethnic fractionalization is correlated with a higher unemployment rate. This is probably mainly because fractionalization reduces labor market efficiency.

What are the factors that explain reversals in the implementation of structural reforms? Our main hypothesis is that reversals in different reforms are driven by different factors. This paper presents novel evidence showing that (a) FDI inflows reduce the likelihood of privatization reversals,...

This paper analyzes the effects of international trade on the relative demand for skilled workers in Italian local labor markets. We find that exports cause a sizable skill upgrading in the labor force by increasing the average level of education of the workforce and the share of white-collars...

This paper examines the impact of employment protection legislation (EPL) on hiring decisions by own-account workers and firing decisions by very small firms (one to four employees). Using data from the EU-15 countries, our results show that the strictness of employment protection legislation is...