In recent years, the number of surveys of access to and use of financial services has multiplied, but little is known about whether the data generated are comparable across countries, or within the same country over time. This paper reports results from a randomized experiment in Ghana to test...

This paper combines firm-level data from 89 countries with updated country-level data on financial structure, and uses two estimation approaches. It finds that in low-income countries, labor growth is swifter in countries with a higher level of private credit/gross domestic product; the positive...

Using a new database of World Bank loans to support financial sector development, the authors investigate whether countries that received such loans experienced more rapid growth on standard indicators of financial development than countries that did not. They account for self-selection with...

The paper provides evidence on the number and volume of financial transactions undertaken by agents (local businesses that double as more convenient, lower cost alternatives to formal branches) of the largest microfinance institution operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More important...

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. The Political Economy of Financial Crises -- 2. Information and Crises -- 3. Crises and the Middle Class -- 4. What Happens after Crises -- 5. Financial Intermediaries and the Demand for Change -- 6. Governments and the Demand for Reform...

Listen to a short interview with Philip T. Hoffman Host: Chris Gondek ] Producer: Heron & Crane Financial disasters often have long-range institutional consequences. When financial institutions--banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms, stock exchanges--collapse, new ones take their place,...