Why are inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) failing to be privatised? This paper takes the concept of the soft budget constraint (introduced by János Kornai) and applies it to state capitalism – that is, where the state owns major production assets but doesn't interfere in price...

This paper uses data from more than 100 developing economies to provide information on firms engaging in international trade in either manufacturing or services, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. We show, among other things, that firms in this region are more likely to export,...

This paper looks at the impediments women face, compared with men, when trying to access finance. It pays particular attention to the structure of the banking system and women's socio-economic participation. Our results suggest that women are more likely to be excluded from the formal financial...

This paper investigates the link between banking system expansion and economic growth. Contrary to evidence from the United States, several recent microeconomic studies from developing country settings do not find enduring effects of banking that carry over to the medium or long term. The paper...

The “transition happiness gap” has been one of the most robust findings in the life satisfaction literature. Until very recently, scholars using various datasets on life satisfaction have shown that residents of post-communist countries were significantly less satisfied with their lives than...

This paper reviews the literature on the benefits and risks of global banking, with a focus on emerging Europe. It argues that while the potential destabilising impact of global banks was well understood before the 2008-09 financial crisis, the sheer magnitude of this impact in the case of...

This paper explores the effects of house prices on fertility rates using a new instrumental variable strategy, exploiting exogenous variation in house prices induced by planning restrictions. Using data from English counties, the instrumental variable estimates indicate that: A 10 per cent...

The paper provides empirical analysis of the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and the quality of public services in the Russian regions. The analysis suggests that fiscal decentralisation has no significant effect on the key inputs into secondary education, such as schools,...

We use a new dataset of de jure measures of trade, capital account, product market, and domestic financial regulation for 91 countries from 1973 to 2005 to test Rajan and Zingales's (2003) interest group theory of financial development. In line with the theory, we find strong evidence that trade...

This study hypothesises that the level of foreign equity participation is a key determinant of the multinational wage premium. In particular, the breakdown of equity in a foreign investment project determines the extent to which a multinational parent company transfers proprietary assets to its...