The authors empirically analyze the association between firm financing choices and the level of development of financial markets in 30 countries for the period 1980-91. For the whole sample, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between stock market development, as measured...

The authors focus on two issues. First they examine whether firms in different countries finance long-term and short term investment similarly. Second, they investigate whether differences in financial systems and legal institutions across countries are reflected in the ability of firms to grow...

The authors review the literature on term finance to place the research in context and discuss its implications for World Bank operations. Their project investigated whether industrial firms in developing countries suffer from a shortage of long-term credit and whether that shortage affects the...

The authors analyze how the burden of the debt crisis has been shared by various classes of creditors. Given the rising share of official debt in the total debt of developing countries, official creditors have a growing need to develop a burden-sharing indicator. This paper represents the very...

To maximize the efficiency gains from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the regulatory environment for Mexican banking, insurance, and securities markets should be further harmonized with those of the more advanced and efficient Canadian and U.S. markets. The authors argue that a...

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of bank-based financial systems (as in Germany and Japan) and market-based financial systems (as in England and the United States). Does financial structure matter? In bank-based systems banks play a leading role in mobilizing savings,...

This paper addresses the question of how important officially supported export credits (OSECs) were, both in quantity and quality, in Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) external financing during the last two decades, and examines the prospects for the 1990s. The paper begins by briefly explaining the...

In the developing world financing patterns vary greatly from what we observe in developed countries. In the poorest developing countries firms rely mostly on internal resources and informal credit markets for financing. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of emerging stock markets on the...

The Costa Rican Social Insurance Fund - the country's main social security institution - was established in 1941 to provide compulsory social insurance coverage for employees, through old-age, disability, and survivor pensions, as well as sickness and maternity benefits. The current status of...

The authors argue that non-financial firms act as intermediaries, by channeling short-term funds from the financial institutions in an economy, to their best use. Non-financial firms act in this way because they may have a comparative advantage in exploiting informal means of ensuring that...