We make a comparison of microfinance banks (MBs) and commercial banks (CBs) in terms of efficiency, business orientation, stability, and asset quality by analyzing a large sample of banks from 60 countries around the world. Our findings indicate that microfinance banks have higher...

We study a channel through which politicians can use corporate taxes to extract firm's resources. We find that politically-connected firms pay higher taxes than their non-connected counterparts. Using election as an exogenous shock, we also observe that politically-connected firms pay higher...

This paper examines the economic effects of a firm's approach to developing and maintaining political connections. Specifically, we investigate whether lenders favor transactional connection as opposed to relational connection. By tracing firms in a politically volatile emerging democracy in...