This paper analyzes the interaction between the success of group lending institutions and the stock of social capital (modeled by the level of trust) in the community where the group lending programs are located. Agents play a finitely repeated "trust game" in parallel with a finitely repeated...

This paper uses data collected from a retrospective pre-test to investigate he impact that a financial education program has on participants’ financial behaviors. Specifically, we compare program impact across participants with varying levels of financial competency prior to the program and...

Pension systems in North Africa are facing a certain number of difficulties. We present in this paper the pension system’s characteristics and organization in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. This work identifies the specificities, as well as the common problems, of each country’s pension...

We examine the impact of the current financial crisis on long-term U.S. Treasury yields by testing the impact of a series of events from December 2007 to March 2009 on the spread between 10-year United States Dollar (USD) London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) swap and 10-year U.S. Treasury...

In this article, the author explains the current state-based insurance regulatory system. Proposed legislation that would expand the federal role in regulating the business of insurance is evaluated in terms of whether it could potentially improve the current state-based insurance regulatory system.

I study the liquidity of global stock exchanges and how it determines cross sectional returns on stock portfolios of the exchanges. I measure liquidity by turnover ratio computed as value of shares traded over the market capitalization. I obtain data from FIBV, an association of global stock...

This paper compares outcomes for borrowers who received face-to-face credit counseling with similarly situated consumers who opted for counseling via the telephone or internet. Counseling outcomes are measured using consumer credit report attributes one or more years following the original...

This paper develops a two-sector overlapping generations (OLG) model of the co-evolution of urbanization, saving, and fertility in developing economies. Children are viewed as a means of old-age support, particularly in the rural sector, as well as a good valued for its own sake. It is shown...

Do improvements in credit markets restrict or broaden economic disparities? Deregulation of intrastate branching, an exogenous shock to U.S. mortgage markets, led to an increase in the overall stock and flow of mortgages. This increase was disproportionately higher for marginal borrowers such as...

This paper examines the feasibility and economic benefits of stock exchanges alliances among OIC countries. Despite common Islamic culture, OIC local capital market conditions are heterogeneous depending on legal jurisdictions, income level and the maturity of stock market development....