The European Commission's current initiative to commence consultations on the action plan to build a Capital Markets Union is to be welcomed. The objective must be to create a stable and sustainable financial system, providing all households and companies with appropriate access to financial...

Finance is a vital ingredient for economic growth, but there can also be too much of it. This study investigates what fifty years of data for OECD countries have to say about the role of the financial sector for economic growth and income inequality and draws policy implications. Over the past...

We analyze the main forces affecting financial system pro-cyclicality (the fact that developments in the financial sector can amplify business cycle fluctuations). We first review some major structural developments in financial markets that may influence pro-cyclicality and that have been...

This paper examines the current situation concerning financial inclusion and financial literacy in Kazakhstan and future prospects. Since 2000, the financial sector has been developing rapidly, driven by petrodollars, which has led to higher financial inclusion. However, the improvement in...

This paper examines whether high levels of financial inclusion is associated with greater financial risk. The findings reveal that higher account ownership is associated with greater financial risk through high nonperforming loan and high cost inefficiency in the financial sector of developed...

A number of studies have addressed issues on Energy Efficiency (EE) pertaining to improving productivity, employment generation, and increased energy security. Investing EE reduces demand for electricity generation, reduces fiscal deficit and energy deficits. In this context, very few studies...

Studying key events related to the repeal of Dodd-Frank policies we find that banking deregulation can create shareholder value. We document positive stock returns for banks around these events. The returns are larger for small banks with assets below $10 billion suggesting that their...

While financial inclusion is typically addressed by improving the financial infrastructure we show that financial literacy, representing the demand-side of financial markets, also has a beneficial effect. We study this effect at the cross-country level, which allows to consider institutional...

The evolutionary taxonomy of financial systems, outlined by Dosi (1990), argued that market-based systems would be comparatively more engaged in the exploration of new technological paradigms, as an outcome of market selective pressure, whereas the more institutionalized finance allocation in...

This paper offers proposals on stimulation of Russia's innovative economic growth through share ownership diversification, improving corporate governance practice and capital structure transformation. The paper also contains concepts on how to strengthen Russia's role in global financial markets...