Many of the distortions in poorly performing economies do not originate in the banking sector, but where state banks still control a large share of the resources in the banking system, they continue to pose a risk to macroeconomic and fiscal stability. State banks are typically vehicles for...

For the past two decades, experiments in decentralization and federalization have been developing in Africa, Asia, and the formerly communist states of Eastern Europe. Many of the powers previously in the hands of the central government or its de-concentrated structures have been transferred to...