The World Bank is delegated the authority to provide long-term stabilization and general purpose balance of payments loans, what the Bank once described as 'program loans'. Yet after a brief period in its early years, the Bank stopped disbursing these loans for an extended period. Why? This...

How much weight should be assigned to a particular factor in explaining an outcome? How should an abstract concept be linked to empirical indicants? These methodological problems—known as the "how much" and "how to" problems, respectively—have raised serious obstacles for ideational...

In this paper, we evaluate what we have learned to date about the effects of privatization from the experiences during the last fifteen to twenty years in the postcommunist (transition) economies and, where relevant, China. We distinguish separately the impact of privatization on efficiency,...

Since the mid-1980s, Algeria has embarked on a programme of comprehensive financial liberalisation to establish a market-oriented financial system, and to develop the role of the Algiers Stock Exchange in the mobilisation of financial resources. The transition from a centrally planned to a...

Consumer credit risk assessment involves the use of risk assessment tools to manage a borrower’s account from the time of pre-screening a potential application through to the management of the account during its life and possible write-off. The riskiness of lending to a credit applicant is...

Applicants for credit have to provide information for the risk assessment process. In the current conditions of a saturated consumer lending market, and hence falling take rates, can such information be used to assess the probability of a customer accepting the offer? With the advent of internet...

This essay investigates the contributions of different factors to regional economic growth in China. A statistical analysis on a provincial panel data from 1978 to 2007 confirms the increasing regional inequality in China can be understood as different patterns of regional economic growth, which...

Researchers have developed investigations into both initial and seasoned equity offering (SEO) by obtaining data from developed markets (e.g. Denis, 1994; Kothari and Warner, 1997; Corwin, 2003; Eckbo et al., 2006), while the literature in emerging markets is relatively neglected. This thesis provides an...

One of the most significant differences between developing countries and today's advanced states is the fact that many developing countries rely heavily on one or several natural resources. That such dependence shapes the state's ability to tax-its fiscal capacity-is commonly argued in the...

This paper considers the current proposals by the World Bank to curb the potential for ?free riding? in relation to financial support and multilateral debt relief to low-income countries. Measures to address the ?free rider? issue will form a pivotal plank in the World Bank?s future strategy...