The Human Development Index (HDI) is designed to provide a development measure competing with GDP, and it has been reformed several times to this end. The 1996 and 1997 reports, however, reveal a severe new flaw in the HDI: the transformation of GDP changes into the index of human development is...

Nonlinear modeling of adjustments to purchasing power parity has recently gained much attention. However, a huge body of the empirical literature applies ESTAR models and neglects the existence of other competing nonlinear models. Among these, the Markov Switching AR model has a strong...

Apart from altruistic reasons, NGOs may engage in developing countries under conditions of conflict and war in order to secure funding and survive in the ‘market’ of humanitarian relief and development assistance. Applying a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach, we analyze...

This paper analyzes the state and impact of financial literacy in a so far largely neglected group: the middle class in emerging economies. This group is of increasing importance for implementing structural change, including the proper use of sophisticated financial products. We survey middle...

This year’s Nobel laureates in economics have a different understanding about the functioning of financial markets. However, this overall contradiction — which is even more pronounced in their policy statements — is no contradiction regarding scientific insights. In this respect they...

This paper provides novel evidence on exchange rate expectations of both chartists and fundamentalists separately. These groups indeed form expectations differently. Chartists change their expectations more often; however, all professionals' expectations vary considerably as they generally...

The ex ante theory of collateral states that better informed lenders, such as informal lenders, rely less on collateral. We test this by contrasting the use of collateral between formal and informal lenders in the same market. Indeed, formal lenders rely more often on collateral, controlling for...

This paper shows that politicians' pressure to climb the career ladder increases bank risk exposure in their region. Chinese local politicians are set growth targets in their region that are relative to each other. Growth is stimulated by debt-financed programs which are mainly financed via bank...

Using a large panel of individual professionals' forecasts, this paper demonstrates that good exchange rate forecasts are related to a proper understanding of fundamentals, specifically good interest rate forecasts. This relationship is robust to individual fixed effects and further controls....

We examine whether the experience of shocks influences individual risk attitude. We measure the risk attitude of more than 4,000 households in Thailand and Vietnam via a simple survey item. The experience of adverse shocks, which is typical for poor and vulnerable households, is related to a...