What role does polyarchy (and thus increased democracy) play in aiding the development of an international financial centre? We find support for decades of theorising, in the globalization literatures as well as in others, that some jurisdictions use autocracy (less polyarchy) to help grow out...

For emerging market regulators, shadow banking represents an activity which they must control. For businessmen in economies like Russia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Mexico, shadow banking represents an important business opportunity. By extending credit to risky (but promising) activities...

Objectives-based legislation - or laws which focus on achieving particular and concrete outcomes - has become a new and important tool that financial sector regulators use to tackle large and varied financial system risks. Yet, objectives-based legislation - and the frequent principles-based...

How can international financial centres like Hong Kong increase assets under management – and thus their size and ranking? Most policymakers and their advisors wrongly answer this question by focusing on financial institutions, and the law that governs them. Instead, policymakers need to start...

Customs-related corruption costs World Customs Organisation (WCO) members at least $2 billion in customs revenue each year. Using recent data only about bribe payers' actual experiences in paying bribes, we show that trade facilitation would only help reduce corruption and improve efficiency -...

Development (IGAD) region represents the chance to create a strong pro-developmental actor - and energize the IGAD itself. Yet, the IGAD senior officials will need to look beyond the traditional development banking model if they hope to make an impact of the scale needed to drag these poorest of...

What role does polyarchy (and thus increased democracy) play in aiding the development of an international financial centre? We find support for decades of theorising that some jurisdictions use autocracy (less polyarchy) to help grow out their financial centres. We look at the growth of these...