This paper introduces the concept of the financial possibility frontier as a constrained optimum level of financial development to gauge the relative performance of financial systems across the globe. This frontier takes into account structural country characteristics, institutional, and...

This paper discusses the different functions that capital markets and banks have in economic development, and it reviews the debate about marketbased vs. bank-based financial systems. Using data for a sample of 40 countries over the period 1975-98, the paper then shows that variation in both...

Financial development disproportionately boosts incomes of the poorest quintile and reduces income inequality. About 40% of the long-run impact of financial development on the income growth of the poorest quintile is the result of reductions in income inequality, while 60% is due to the impact...

This paper shows that the finance and growth relationship is as important in resource-based economies as in other economies. This paper also documents less developed financial systems in resource-based economies and banks that are more liquid, better capitalized and more profitable, but give...

We study the success and failure of 59 newly established (“nascent”) stock markets since 1975 in their first 40 years of activity. Nascent markets differ markedly in their success, as measured by number of listings, market capitalization, and trading activity. Long-term success is in part...

We study the success and failure of newly established stock markets, as measured by listings, market capitalization, and trading activity. Early success is a necessary but not sufficient condition for long-term success, while small population, high corruption, limited law and order, low...

This paper shows that the finance and growth relationship is as important in resource-based economies as in other economies. This paper also documents less developed financial systems in resource-based economies and banks that are more liquid, better capitalized and more profitable, but give...

Motivated by public policy debates about bank consolidation and conflicting theoretical predictions about the relationship between the market structure of the banking industry and bank fragility, this paper studies the impact of bank concentration, bank regulations, and national institutions on...

Using a novel enterprise survey from Kenya (FinAccess Business), we document a strong positive association between the use of mobile money as a method to pay suppliers and access to trade credit. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous entrepreneurs, imperfect credit...

What is the relationship between entrepreneurial saving practices and reinvestment?  We develop a model of entrepreneurial finance and show that entrepreneurial reinvestment decisions depend on the efficiency of saving practices.  Utilizing a novel micro & small enterprise survey from Tanzania...