While insurance plays an important role in the financial sector, it is often ignored in the financial development-economic growth literature. This paper examines the relationship between insurance and economic growth via a global cross-country study over 1980 to 2006, using both cross-sectional...

This paper examines the impact of the Basel agreements (Basel I introduced in 1988, Basel I with market risk in 1998 and Basel II in 2008), on the level of systematic risk of the Australian big four banks. An augmented market model with three dummy variables is employed to capture any changes in...

This study examines the relation between incentives and risk taking for 466 insurer-year observations over 2006-2010. Our results show that independent director compensation is positively related to risk taking as is CEO compensation and institutional ownership. Besides dollar value and...

We examine the relations between the financial and outreach efficiency of Cambodian microfinance institutions (MFIs). Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) finds that commercially focused MFIs are no less efficient at reaching the poor than non-profit ones. Larger MFIs appear as efficient at reaching...

This study examines the relation of independent directors and their gender diversity, busyness, and experience with risk taking for 112 listed US insurance companies over 2003- 2010. Using OLS, system GMM and 3SLS, we find that board independence, females amongst independent directors and busy...