This article focuses on the development and implementation of modern Shari'ah-compliant project and infrastructure finance structures and techniques. The definition and history of project finance are summarized, as are some of the essential institutions, practices, premises, methodology and...

Flexibility theory of capital structure, credit rationing, and stage-financing theory are consistent with many patterns of financing of entrepreneurial or small/medium size enterprises (SME). Tax theory of capital structure does not seem to play a significant role for SMEs as opposite to large...

We suggest a full consolidation approach that takes into account the property rights structure whithin the subsidiaries, in particular, the majority requirements on restructurings. Our approach employs a property rights index based on cooperative game theory.

We study the optimal accounting policy of a financially constrained firm that pledges assets to raise debt capital for financing a risky project. The accounting system provides information about the value of the collateral. Absent accounting regulation, the optimal accounting system is...

TThere has been debate over the economic consequences of accounting conservatism in debt contracting. We contribute to this debate by arguing that the prospect of signaling project return may give rise to the demand for conservative accounting, even though it may not improve contracting...

Most econometric studies of equity market integration suggest that national markets are increasingly becoming part of a global equity market. As regards the extent of this integration, however, the results are often inconclusive. Further analysis calls for a closer scrutiny of the basic...

This paper analyzes the effects of parliamentary disagreement over economic policy concepts across 19 developed democratic countries on firms' cost of equity capital. We model parliamentary disagreement as the seat-weighted dispersion of policy positions among all represented parties and find...

The assessment of external positions and exchange rates is a key mandate of the IMF. This paperpresents the updated External Balance Assessment (EBA) framework-a key input in the conduct ofmultilaterally-consistent external sector assessments of 49 advanced and emerging marketeconomies-following...

We show that global political uncertainty, measured by the U.S. election cycle, on average, leads to a fall in equity returns in fifty non-U.S. countries. At the same time, market volatilities rise, local currencies depreciate, and sovereign bond returns increase. The effect of global political...

This study applies the panel convergence methodology developed by Philips and Sul (2007) on the debt maturity ratios of a set of firms in developed economies, to explore the effects of credit market integration on debt maturity choices. In contrast to prior studies, our methodology allows for a...