This study makes a cross sectional case in investigating the validity, or otherwise, of the finance-driven growth hypothesis in the ECOWAS countries using annual data from 1970 to 2008 for seven countries namely: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. In...

One of the most enduring debates in economics is whether financial development causes economic growth or whether it is a consequence of increased economic activity. Little research into this question, however has used a true causality framework. This paper fills this lacuna by using...

Latin America has been seen over the years as a violent region. Organized crime has been a major factor contributing to that perception. Crime not only makes daily life more dangerous for citizens of a country, but can even challenge the viability of governments. Crime fighting efforts drain...

Main tool for macroeconomic management - fiscal policy consists in establishing the levels of taxation and spending in order to influence macroeconomic performance. Fiscal policy, promoted by the government authorities of any contemporary state, is directed usually to achieving microeconomic and...

This study makes a cross sectional case in investigating the validity, or otherwise, of the finance-driven growth hypothesis in the ECOWAS countries using annual data from 1970 to 2008 for seven countries namely: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. In...

The main idea of this paper consists in offering a general view regarding a comparative analysis between different EU countries on public debt and economic growth. In the meantime, this is the evidence that the annual shift of the public dues ratio and the budget deficit to GDP ratio are seen in...

In the literature there is a great debate on the growth effects of international financial integration. It is argued that the direction and the magnitude of the effect of financial integration on growth depend on some structural and economic characteristics of the economies. This implies that...

Using industry-level data, this paper tries to explain why financial integration raised growth differentials between externally dependent and less dependent industries in European transition countries, but not in other developing or advanced countries in the years preceding the current crisis....

In recent years, the term “fear of floating” has been used to describe exchange rate regimes that, while officially flexible, in practice intervene heavily to avoid sudden or large depreciations. However, the data reveals that in most cases (and increasingly so in the 2000s) intervention has...

Few scientific papers treat the role of institutions on the relationship between foreign direct investment (hereafter FDI) and economic growth. In the existing literature, the FDI effects on growth are not easy to understand. Mixed findings, both theoretical and empirical, have been provided on...