One of the most enduring debates in economics is whether financial development causes economic growth or whether it is a consequence of increased economic activity. Little research into this question, however has used a true causality framework. This paper fills this lacuna by using...

Efficiency in stock markets is essential for economic stability and growth. This study investigates the efficiency and herding behavior of the stock markets from the top economies of the world (known as G20 countries). We classify stock market indices using MSCI classification for the developed...

This paper evaluates the effects of capital account controls adopted in the past years by the FLAR’s member countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela) on the efficiency of the banking sector, the economic growth and the volatility of output, consumption, and...

Integrated Trend Analysis is an attempt to study and analysis the diverse forces which affect the price of a security with the help of Triple Trend Oscillator (TTO). TTO is a trend following oscillator devised to identify the exact technical strength of a stock or indices over multiple...

Late 19th century investors demanded compensation to invest in countries with poor institutional protection of property rights. Using the monthly stock returns of 1,808 firms located in 43 countries but traded in London between 1866 and 1907, we estimate the country-specific cost of capital. We...

Within the last decade sizeable capital inflows from mature economies were accompanied by rapid financial deepening in the Western Balkans, Turkey and the CIS. Notwithstanding their considerably different initial positions most countries sustained financial stability in the first period of the...

Real investment in Poland declined from 1990 to 1993, and only slowly recovered, while real credit decreased for a number of years, too. Has declining credit adversely affected investment? Controlling for industry and time fixed effect, and using dynamic panel data techniques, I estimate an...

The number of multinational banks have increased in transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe, while the amount of real credit has simultaneously decreased. Based on the cases of Poland and Hungary during the first six years of economic transition this paper investigates if there is a...

This paper examines the effects of political agreements on regional financial integration (RFI) on financial market development and access to and cost of finance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our results suggest that RFI positively affects financial development - measured very broadly as the size of...