With extensive country- and firm-level data sets we first document that the financial sectors of most sub-Saharan African countries remain significantly underdeveloped by the standards of other developing countries. We also find that population density appears to be considerably more important...

The continuous regressions in the per capita income of the Sudanese people have triggered many suggestions to ameliorate their productive capabilities. One of them was the facilitations in financing programs through official channels. However, there are many structural impediments that inhibit...

This paper examines the evolving importance of banks and securities markets during the process of economic development. We find that as countries develop economically, (1) the size of both banks and securities markets increases relative to the size of the economy, (2) the association between an...

This paper assesses whether and how financial development triggers the occurrence of banking crises. It builds on a database that includes financial development as well as financial access, depth and efficiency for almost 100 countries. Through estimation of a dynamic logit panel model, it...

This paper elucidates the key debates surrounding the optimal design of financial systems and institutions: bank-based versus market-based; universal versus specialized banking; relationship versus arms-length banking. The paper also examines the historical pattern of financial system development...

This study investigated two key questions: what is the impact of industrialisation on urbanisation in Africa? and to what extent does financial development affect this industrialisation- urbanisation nexus? To elicit answers to these questions, data from thirty-three (33) African countries over...

There is now considerable evidence that a range of institutional, legal, cultural, political and religious variables determine financial development. But economists have conjectured that the presence of diversification opportunities in the real economy can also shape the development of the...

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the controversial relationship between financial system development and economic development. Using cointegration and VAR estimations on annual data from Africa, we examine the nature of the relationship between financial development and income. We...

This paper examines the nexus between financial development and economic growth in Ghana between 1970 and 2020. The study adopted the Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) techniques to address issues of model uncertainty due to many potential explanatory variables that could influence growth. The...