This paper examines the state of the Russian banking sector in 2004 and assesses the most important reform initiatives of the last two years, including deposit insurance legislation, a major reform of the framework for prudential supervision, steps to increase transparency in the sector, and...

This work aims to elucidate constraints in foreign investments in the Greek tourism sector, in relation to market transparency, by placing a public sector company opposite the Public Sector. The paper draws on scientific research, government documents, and professional standards to explain the...

In the decade following the 1998 financial crisis Russia’s banking system grew much larger and stronger – indeed, growth rates were dangerously high – but even before the onset of the current global crisis it continued to play a limited role in intermediating savings and investment,...

Smartphone app designers often use behavioral design to influence users, increase sales, and boost advertising revenue. Behavioral design relies on elements ranging from app appearance to black-box algorithms and personalization. It commonly exploits behavioral biases, such as the lack of...

Attackers compromise web servers in order to host fraudulent content, such as malware and phishing websites. While the techniques used to compromise websites are widely discussed and categorized, analysis of the methods used by attackers to identify targets has remained anecdotal. In this paper,...

Smartphone app designers often use behavioral design to influence users, increase sales, and boost advertising revenue. Behavioral design relies on elements ranging from app appearance to black-box algorithms and personalization. It commonly exploits behavioral biases, such as the lack of...

We construct an index of NTM transparency based on notifications to the WTO under the SPS and TBT agreements, the existence of a trade portal giving ready access to trade-relevant regulations, the existence of NTM data collected under the MAST classification, and the results of an experiment...

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it examines the effects of the implementation of trade facilitation (TF) measures on international trade flows and on participation in global value chains (GVCs). Second, it provides policy recommendations for developing Asia and the Pacific derived...

Even as the Doha Round seeks to address tariff liberalization issues in a comprehensive manner, the imbalance in the outcome of market access for developing country exporters will be particularly glaring in the case of fresh agricultural and processed food products. There is growing evidence...

This paper assesses the role of Switzerland as the leading hub for global commodities trading, in terms of the patterns of prices received by original exporting countries and subsequently by Switzerland and other jurisdictions. We find support for the hypotheses that (i) the average prices for...