Analysis of cross-sectional data on tourism to Israel during the Intifada period reveals some of the factors driving the behaviour of tourists from different countries. A large part of the heterogeneity in the observed response of different nationalities can be explained by socio-economic...

Political economy theories of financial development argue that in countries where a narrow elite controls political decisions, financial development may be deliberately obstructed to deny access to finance to potential competitors. This paper empirically examines whether the level of...

We show that previous results suggesting that government ownership of banks is associated with lower long run growth rates are not robust to adding more “fundamental” determinants of economic growth. We also present new cross-country evidence for 1995- 2007 which suggests that, if anything,...

Using a suitably modified locational model of banking, we examine the influence of institutions, such as deposit contract enforcement, in explaining the share of government owned banks in the banking system. We present cross-country evidence suggesting that institutional factors are relatively...

In this paper we estimate a time-series model of excess liquidity in the Egyptian banking sector. While financial liberalization and financial stability are found to have reduced excess liquidity, these effects have been offset by an increase in the number of violent political incidents arising...

In this paper we estimate a time-series model of the financial asset portfolio shares in Egypt, distinguishing between assets of varying degrees of liquidity and between domestic currency and foreign currency deposits. While financial liberalization and financial stability are found to have...

This paper uses a new database of political violence in Egypt to study the effects of political violence on the monthly arrival of tourists from the EU and the US in Egypt in the 1990s. We use time series analysis to study the impact of different aspects of political violence and...

This paper analyses a newly collected time-series database measuring the dimensions of violent political conflict in Egypt. Attention is focused on the interaction between politically motivated attacks by Islamists and the counter-insurgency measures used by the Egyptian government. The...

We put forward a modern version of the ‘developmental’ view of government-owned banks which shows that the combination of information asymmetries and weak institutions creates scope for such banks to play a growth-promoting role. We present new cross-country evidence consistent with our...

Naval counter-piracy measures off Somalia have failed to change the incentives for pirates, raising calls for land-based approaches that may involve replacing piracy as a source of income. This paper evaluates the effects of piracy on the Somali economy to establish which (domestic) groups...