From European integration to domestic politics to the development of the global economy, technocracy and private ordering have shaped economic behaviour. Such transformative private-driven forces of economic activity flourished through the promulgation of voluntary standards. In view of the...

We investigate the effect of the power of creditors, property rights protection, and institutional quality, on bank profits using a panel of 498 banks from 46 countries. Results show that better institutions and stronger property rights protection reduce bank profits, while stronger power of...

This study demarcates cost-inefficiency in Chinese banks into X-inefficiency and rent-seeking-inefficiency. A protected banking market not only encourages weak management and X-inefficiency but also public ownership and state directed lending encourages moral hazard and bureaucratic rent...

According to a frequently cited finding by Berger et al (1993), X-inefficiency contributes 20% to cost-inefficiency in western banks. Empirical studies of Chinese banks tend to place cost-inefficiency in the region of 50%. Such estimates would suggest that Chinese banks suffer from gross cost...

The importance of investment advisers to the financial well-being of their clients cannot be overstated. Individuals and institutions entrust trillions of dollars to investment advisers to manage on their behalf. This paper discusses and explains fiduciary principles in investment advice....

This Article provides the first sustained account of advice-giving as a fiduciary activity, and it demonstrates that the dominant approach to defining fiduciary relationships is flawed. Leading academic commentators assert that fiduciary relationships only arise when one party has discretion...

As in many developing economies, cash is still widely used in Colombia, even among merchants who accept payment cards. Indeed, 60% of these merchants use dissuasive strategies to make their clients pay with cash. This paper presents estimates of merchant card fees that are optimal according to...

After the collapse of communism, political elites in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) implemented economic reforms that were largely inspired by the prevailing neoliberal paradigm. One of the consequences of these reforms was that the region's economies became very open to foreign direct...

According to a frequently cited finding by Berger et al (1993), X-inefficiency contributes 20% to cost-inefficiency in western banks. Empirical studies of Chinese banks tend to place cost-inefficiency in the region of 50%. Such estimates would suggest that Chinese banks suffer from gross cost...