Lal Jayawardena, who died in Colombo in April 2004, was an intellectual, a lover of life and a humane and gifted leader. He was a top Sri Lankan civil servant of the post-independence era and an influential policy maker. Lal was educated in Sri Lanka and at King’s College, Cambridge, where he...

This paper provides a critical analysis of the World Bank’s new thinking on industrial policy. After outlining the changing perspectives on industrial policy put forward by the World Bank over the last three decades, we argue that the bank’s economists have taken one step forward (the...

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between information technology and the capital markets. The central analytical and policy question addressed here is what kind of financial system or capital market arrangements are most conducive to fostering information technology and its use...

This paper analyses a longitudinal dataset on legal protection of shareholders over a 36 year period, 1970-2005 for four advanced countries, UK, France, Germany and the US. It examines two aspects of the legal origin hypothesis - whether shareholder protection is higher in the common law...

Summary This paper examines the impact on labour markets in advanced countries (ACs) of the integration of the two giant fast-growing countries, China and India, with the liberalised global economy. The integration is taking place under “current globalisation,” which consists of free trade,...

After a brief recent empirical sketch of Islamic finance, the paper turns to its main theoretical and conceptual purpose. It seeks to relate the concepts of Islamic and conventional finance, and to examine certain important questions which arise from the interaction between these systems. The...

Abstract During the 1980s and 1990s, many developing countries (DCs) have been engaged in far-reaching reforms of their financial systems, liberalising them and making them more market-oriented. This liberalisation, involving inter alia ‘financial de-repression’ has been inspired partly by...

The proposed book represents a serious, thoughtful and original contribution to the study of the political economy of Punjab, and more generally to the analysis of regional economic development in federally organised states in the developing world. It focuses on the Punjab, a geo-politically...

Overview For some time now, the governments of a few advanced countries,as well as their unions and some parts of the business sector, have been pressing proposals to establish multilateral rules permitting punitive trade measures to be taken against countries deemed to be failing to uphold core...

Abstract This paper examines from the developing countries perspective important analytical and policy issues arising from: a) the current international discussions about corporate governance in relation to the New International Financial Architecture; b) changes in the international competitive...