We investigate whether and how political systems affect the financial soundness of conventional and Islamic banks. Using factors extracted from principal component analysis, we find that Islamic banks underperform their conventional counterparts in more democratic political systems but...

Recent years have brought a gradual shift of responsibility for pension provisions, financial planning, health care and various insurances from governmental institutions and firms to individuals. To tackle this challenge, individuals need applied financial literacy and not merely theoretical...

This study examines the impact of the Basel III regulatory framework on the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks using conditional quantile regressions. We find that Islamic banks are significantly more efficient than conventional banks. We also find that, relative to conventional banks,...

Recent years have brought a gradual shift of responsibility for pension provisions, financial planning, health care and various insurances from governmental institutions and firms to individuals. To tackle this challenge, individuals need applied financial literacy and not merely theoretical...

This study examines whether IPO disclosure requirements mandated by countries' securities laws are associated with variation in IPO underpricing in international IPO markets. Our empirical analysis uses a unique sample of 6,025 IPOs from 34 countries over the period from 1995 to 2002. We show...