The authors analyze the relationship between financial development and inter-industry resource allocation in the short and long run. They suggest that in the long run, economies with high rates of financial development will devote relatively more resources to industries with a "natural" reliance...

One of the alleged benefits of the recent global movement to strengthen intellectual property rights (IPRs) is that such reforms accelerate transfers of technology between countries. The paper examines how technology transfer among U.S. multinational firms changes in response to a series of IPR...

This paper presents empirical analysis of corporate savings in Egypt using two datasets: a survey of small and medium enterprises and data from accounting statements for the largest publicly traded firms. There are two main findings. First, larger firms invest more (they have more physical...

This paper examines the determinants of stock markets' vulnerability to the 2007-2008 crisis. Given that the United States (US) was the crisis epicenter, the authors analyze the factors driving the co-movement between US returns and stock returns in 83 countries. The analysis distinguishes...

This paper uses a dataset of more than 70,000 firms in over 100 countries to systematically study the use of different financing sources for new and young firms, in comparison to mature firms. The authors find that in all countries younger firms rely less on bank financing and more on informal...

A unique dataset of over 70,000 firms, most of which are small, in over 100 countries, is utilized to systematically study the use of different financing sources for new and young firms. Consistent age-related patterns emerge. Across all countries younger firms rely less on bank financing and...

The authors use panel data on the number of new firm registrations in 92 countries to study how the magnitude of reforms affects new firm registrations. They find that small reforms, in general less than 40 percent reduction in costs, days, or procedures required for business registration, do...

The authors use panel data on the number of new firm registrations in 95 countries to study the impact of the business environment and 2008 financial crisis on new firm registration. The data show that more dynamic formal business creation occurs in countries that provide entrepreneurs with a...

This paper uses data on publicly listed companies in Jordan to evaluate corporate vulnerability and perform corporate stress testing. The exercise finds that both earnings and interest rate shocks have significant impact on corporate vulnerability. Because different banks have different sector...

This paper examines the effects of providing financial services to low-income individuals on entrepreneurial activity, employment, and income. The analysis exploits cross-time and cross-municipality variation in the opening of Banco Azteca in Mexico to measure these effects with a...