This paper presents a World Bank led and Russia trust fund financed work program to measure financial capability and the effectiveness of financial education in low and middle income countries. The two activities and their staging have been motivated by the lessons of high-income countries with...

The microfinance industry carries every sign of an innovation in its take-off phase. The various aspects of the microfinance innovation were developed in the 1980's, twenty years later the industry experiences a phenomenal growth rate, and it has diffused to most developing countries in the...

This paper investigates technical and scales efficiencies of microfinance institutions (MFI) in three regions: Latin America countries, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, and South Asia countries, and compares efficiencies across regions and across type of MFIs. We find that...

Utilising four annual panel datasets and dynamic panel data estimation procedures we find that trade and financial openness, as well as economic institutions are statistically important determinants of the variation in financial development across countries and over time since the 1980s....

This paper investigates the impact of mobile financial services – MFS (mobile money, and mobile credit and savings) on the informal sector. Using both parametric and non-parametric methods on panel data from 101 emerging and developing countries over the period 2000-15, we find that MFS...

In this paper we unpack the scope and possibilities of sovereign development funds in different forms and under different political-cum-institutional conditions as a policy tool supporting economic growth and development, particularly in developing countries. Defining what that purpose should be...

The paper examines the characteristics of one of the key institutions of the investment policy — the agency for attracting investments, in particular its functions. We have found that the existence of this institution positively affects on the number of projects with the participation of...

Numerous microfinance initiatives around the world aim to alleviate poverty in developing countries. However, debate persists about their effectiveness and sustainability – a concern for transnational corporations and the international business community, which contribute about $9.4 billion to...

The big ten banks in Ghana are too profitable (in terms of what is socially optimal) and they earn much higher profits compared to other industries. Their excess profits are being made at the expense of the public and that they should contribute toward the public finances. We propose a bank tax...

This paper addresses the empirical question of whether trade and financial openness can help explain the recent pace in financial development, as well as its variation across countries in recent years. Utilising annual data from developing and industrialised countries and dynamic panel...