In an approach analogous to Rajan and Zingales (1998), we examine how the ability to access long-term debt affects firm-level growth volatility. We find that firms in industries with stronger preference to use long-term finance relative to short-term finance experience lower growth volatility in...

This paper takes stock of the empirical evidence on the financing challenges faced by small and medium enterprises, especially in developing countries. The paper first discusses the institutional constraints that impede access to finance, including the lack of reliable credit information, lack...

The intensity of the crisis in financial markets has surprised nearly everyone. This paper searches out the root causes of the crisis, distinguishing them from scapegoating explanations that have been used in policy circles to divert attention from the underlying breakdown of incentives....

In this paper we focus on two issues. First, we examine whether firms in a thirty country sample finance long-term and short-term investment similarly. Second, we investigate whether perceived differences in the efficiency of the legal systems and in financial institutions across countries are...

This paper investigates how international regulatory and institutional differences affect lending in the cross-border syndicated loan market. Lending provided through a foreign subsidiary is subject to subsidiary-country regulation and institutional arrangements. Multinational banks' choices...

This paper finds that lending by state banks is less procyclical than lending by private banks, especially in countries with good governance. Lending by state banks in high income countries is even countercyclical. On the liability side, state banks expand potentially unstable non-deposit...