This study investigates whether the competence of central bank governors affect the stability of the financial system they are responsible for. Using publicly available information about central bank governors from 2000 to 2016 together with data on financial stability and the macro-economy, the...

How did a health crisis translate to an economic crisis? Why did the spread of the coronavirus bring the global economy to its knees? The answer lies in two methods by which coronavirus stifled economic activities. First, the spread of the virus encouraged social distancing which led to the...

This paper investigates the association between social inclusion and financial inclusion. Social inclusion and financial inclusion are two major development policy agenda in many countries, and the association between them has received little attention in the policy and academic literature....

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent evidence on financial inclusion from all regions of the World. It identifies the emerging themes in the financial inclusion literature as well as some controversy in policy circles regarding financial inclusion. In particular, I draw...

This study investigates the non-discretionary determinants of bank loan loss provisions in Africa after controlling for macroeconomic fluctuation, financial development and investor protection. We find that non-performing loans, loan-to-asset ratio and loan growth are significant...

This study investigates bank income smoothing, focusing on the effect of corruption on the extent of income smoothing by African banks. I find that banks use loan loss provisions to smooth positive (non-negative) earnings particularly in the post-2008 crisis period and this behaviour is reduced...

This paper is a survey of the most important research in the economic policy uncertainty literature. Economic policy uncertainty, although still under-researched relative to mainstream topics in economics and finance, has recently received increased scholarly attention. Through synthesizing...

This paper analyse the looming COVID-19 global debt crisis. The high debt incurred during the pandemic period by many countries combined with tightening global financial conditions such as increase in interest rate can trigger a global debt crisis for heavily indebted countries. I suggest some...

This article discusses some policy options that central banks may find useful in dealing with climate change risk in the financial sector. The effect of climate change on the financial sector are indirect but severe when they occur. Central banks play an important role in regulating the...

This study examines the correlation of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) across countries and regions. Using correlation analysis, the findings reveal that some countries have a positive EPU correlation while other countries have a negative EPU correlation. The economic policy uncertainty index...