Most central banks use short-term interest rates as their main instrument of monetary policy. It is assumed that a change in policy rate will influence interest rates set by commercial banks, but this is not usually the case. Commercial banks adjust their interest rates in response to changes in...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interest rate transmission mechanism for South Africa as an emerging economy in a pre-repo and repo system. It explains how the money market rate is transmitted to the retail interest rates both in the long-run and short-run and tests the symmetric and...

Researchers have developed investigations into both initial and seasoned equity offering (SEO) by obtaining data from developed markets (e.g. Denis, 1994; Kothari and Warner, 1997; Corwin, 2003; Eckbo et al., 2006), while the literature in emerging markets is relatively neglected. This thesis provides an...

This paper provides a critical review of the literature On Socially responsible investments (SRI). Particular to SRI is that both financial goals and social objectives are pursued. Over the past decade. SRI has experienced an explosive growth around the world reflecting the increasing awareness...

Credit market imperfections have been blamed for the depth and persistence of the Great Depression in the USA. Could similar mechanisms have played a role in ending the East Asian miracle? After a brief account of the nature of the recent crisis, we use a model of highly levered...

This thesis deals with the issue of financial development in Egypt at the sectoral, macroeconomic and household levels over the period 1960-93. The thesis is organised in ten chapters, including a summary of the main results in chapter (10). Chapter (1) provides an introduction of the topics...

This thesis presents a number of examples where macroeconometric models are employed as useful tools for evaluation of contemporary policy problems. A range of approaches is proposed to shed light on how macromodels can actually contribute to the policy debate. In particular, the thesis...

The family is a universal and enduring institution that forms the basis of many economic decisions. Is decision making within the family efficient? The empirical literature on this issue is inconclusive to date, hence this paper uses a quasi-field experiment to examine this question. The...

Providing access to finance to the poor has been proposed as a tool for economic development and poverty reduction. Our research aims to provide a deep analysis of how to enhance access to finance on a sustainable basis, focussing on rural Vietnam. It analyzes four main areas: (i) why access to...

This thesis deals with the optimal design of pensions systems in the face of demographic changes. Though the chapters differ in terms of the key questions addressed, the unifying theme remains which pensions system yields the highest welfare under differing economic conditions. We use a standard...