This paper presents an empirical analysis of the significance of operational efficiency on MFIs operating costs using both a cross-section and a balanced panel data approach. Using a sample of 750 microfinance institutions operating in Asia, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, the analysis...

The empirical literature over the past decade has often addressed the issue of operational efficiency within microfinance institutions. This paper extends Arnone, Bellavite Pellegrini and Messa (2010), which recognized the importance of strictly financial aspects of MFIs, nearing them to the...

The 2003 Italian Corporate Law Reform, establishing one-tier vs. two-tier board for listed and unlisted joint stock companies, introduced alternative corporate governance systems. This study implements probit regressions in order to compare 548 unlisted firms: corporations with best performances...

The literature on corporate governance has investigated the relationship between the adoption of a corporate governance system and firms’ performance, but it seems to ignore the issue of costs of the body corporate members among different systems, i.e. the traditional and alternative models,...

The 2003 Italian Corporate Reform Law, establishing one-tier vs two-tier board for listed and unlisted joint stock companies, introduced an alternative corporate governance system. We compare 548 unlisted firms: corporations with best performance in sales and capital structure, as well as those...

In the past 10 years a growing number of countries have established or began establishing a primary dealer system. This paper discusses the role of primary dealers, as well as theoretical, operational, and technical issues related to the establishment of a primary dealer system, in the overall...

Electronic money (e-money), as a network good, could become an important form of currency in the future. Such a development could affect monetary policy effectiveness. If an increased use of e-money substantially limits the demand for central bank reserves, this limitation would require changes...

This paper is devoted to the increasingly relevant issue of corruption. Financial and economic literature has progressively focused its attention on the impact of corruption on the financial performances of listed companies, highlighting the existence of a negative relation between a Corruption...

This study analyzes a sample of cooperative banks in Italy and Germany, using panel data from 2006-2009. The empirical analysis shows that there are significant differences in stability and performance between the two countries considered. In particular, the findings show that Italian...

Over the past two decades in the Chinese banking system substantial progress has been made, and reforms have been mainly aimed at improving its governance and efficiency, but many governance problems still exist and hinder a complete transition to a market economy. Through the analysis of the...