To clarify the causal links between financial activity and economic growth, three theoretical models are analyzed and a LISREL structural equation path model is estimated. In the modeling part, poverty traps result from large fixed costs or high proportions of real investment to run a financial...

We present statistical backtesting procedures applicable in situations where few and heterogeneous probabilities have to be evaluated, as is typically the case when forecasting country default risk. These tests are applied to a sample of default probabilities assessed for 19 emerging market and...

We investigate the consistency of efficiency scores derived with two competing frontier methods in the financial economics literature: stochastic Frontier and Data Envelopment Analysis. We sample 34,192 observations for all German universal banks and analyze whether efficiency measures yield...

The quot;law and finance theoryquot; predicts that the common law system provides the best basis for financial development and economic growth, followed by Scandinavian and German origin civil law and finally French origin civil law. This paper summarises the key points of the theory as well as...