Using a large database built from the credit files of UniCredit we focus on loans to small businesses at the peak of the crisis. We study the determinants of the worsening of financial tension up to March 2009 for those customers experiencing (or close to) financial tension already at the end of...

This paper investigates why household connections to piped water supply can increase diarrheal diseases among under-5-year-old children. Using a unique mix of household data, microbiological test results and spatial information from urban Yemen it is possible to distinguish the adverse impacts...

Purpose–In spite of being the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world, China shows limited evidence of considerable FDI benefits on growth (Fan and Hu; Luo; Ran et al.). Motivated by Alfaro et al.'s model, the purpose of this study is to test whether poor...

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la relación que existe entre el desarrollo del sistema financiero y el crecimiento en los países de Latinoamérica. En primer lugar, pudimos evidenciar la elevada correlación que existe entre los distintos indicadores del sistema financiero y el PIB. En...

The most significant structural change undergone by the British and Swiss economies during the past 25 years (1975-2000) is indisputably the development of their financial systems. From this point of view, the two countries show a number of similarities: the presence of one or more international...

By using a unique database on the ownership relations of Swiss firms, this article proposes a study of specific regional characteristics in that it reveals the way in which ownership is structured. The paper clearly highlights the different ways that regions behave regarding their involvement in...

The purpose of an efficient capital market is to mobilize funds from those who have it and route each them to those who can utilize it in the best possible way. India’s financial market is multi-facet but not balanced. It has state of art equity market but relatively less developed and...

Eight states established deposit insurance systems between 1908 and 1917. All abandoned the systems between 1921 and 1930. Scholars debate the costs and benefits of these policy experiments. New data drawn from the archives of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors demonstrate that deposit...

For many self-employed poor in the developing world, entrepreneurship involves experimenting with new technologies and learning about oneself. This paper explores the (positive and normative) implications of learning for the practice of lending to the poor. The optimal lending contract...

We document that the fraction of entrepreneurs who work in the region where they were born is significantly higher than the corresponding fraction for dependent workers. This difference is more pronounced in more developed regions and positively related to the degree of local financial...