This paper examines the relationship between the legal system and banking development and traces this connection through to long-run rates of per capita GDP growth, capital stock growth, and productivity growth. The data indicate that countries where the legal system (1) emphasizes creditor...

Although research shows that financial development accelerates aggregate economic growth, economists have not resolved conflicting theoretical predictions and ongoing policy disputes about the cross-firm distributional effects of financial development. Using cross-industry, cross-country data,...

This paper examines the impact of bank regulations, market structure, and national institutions on bank net interest margins and overhead costs using data on over 1400 banks across 72 countries while controlling for bank-specific characteristics. The data indicate that tighter regulations on...

Two arguments advanced in favor of Mexico abandoning the peso and adopting the U.S. dollar are to lower exchange rate volatility and inflation. We are not able to identify an independent link between economic growth and either the exogenous component of exchange rate volatility or the exogenous...