Financial development is vulnerable to social conflict. Conflict reduces the demand for domestic currency as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Conflict also leads to poor quality governance, including weak regulation of the financial system, thereby undermining the sustainability of financial institutions. Conflict therefore reduces the social return to financial liberalization and oth...

This paper develops a simple theoretical framework to explore the role of banks, bank inefficiencies and financial liberalization in explaining the sustained interest rate premium offered in a number of emerging economies in East Asia despite evidence of fairly credible ex-ante fixed exchange rates (Thailand in particular).

This paper quantifies the welfare impact of a permanent increase in the level of per capita income brought about by a temporary growth effect following financial liberalization. We find that a lion’s share of the welfare benefits from financial liberalization accrue over relatively short horizons, and in the early years after the policy is implemented. Evaluating welfare gains from liberalizati...

In this paper we analyze some policy implications of incompleteness of markets in trade models, where there is both inter-spatial and intertemporal trade between countries. We interpret the absence of intertemporal trade as an absence of intermediation services provided by both domestic and foreign service providers. For simplicity, we consider extreme cases where intertemporal intermediation s...

Financial development is vulnerable to social conflict. Conflict reduces the demand for domestic currency as a medium of exchange and a store of value. Conflict also leads to poor quality governance, including weak regulation of the financial system, thereby undermining the sustainability of financial institutions. Conflict therefore reduces the social return to financial liberalization and oth...

abstract financial crises and currency instabilities within developing and emerging economies during the last decade had a tremendous impact on the economic performance and increased vulnerability of economies against domestic and foreign shocks. the timing of capital liberalization is one of the significant debates among other issues related to currency instability, and it would be more conven...

Evidence supporting the positive effects of capital account liberalization on growth is mixed at best. Even after conditioning on the quality of domestic financial institutions, a significant number of studies still find no effect. One possible explanation is reverse causation. If low growth countries liberalize in order to spur growth, the observed correlation between growth and liberalization...

This paper examines the dynamic impact of interest rate reforms on economic growth in Zambia—using two models in a stepwise fashion. In the first model, the efficacy of interest rate liberalization is examined by regressing the interest rate on the level of financial deepening. In the second model, the causal relationship between financial depth and economic growth is examined by incorporating ...

This paper investigates how financial, trade, institutional and political liberalization policies have affected financial efficiency in Africa. It uses updated data to appraise second generation reforms in order to gather fresh evidence and derive more updated policy implications. The ‘freedom to trade’ and ‘economic freedom’ indices are also employed. The following findings are established. (1...

This study examines the response of merchandise export to real exchange rate-based trade liberalization in Sub-Saharan Africa between 1980 and 2005. This is because the last two decades have witnessed a significant fall in trade barriers across many SSA countries in an attempt to boost exports and foster economic growth. The panel least squares estimation technique was adopted for the study. In...