Alternative forms of external finance : a survey

The main purpose of this paper is to survey the existing literature on alternative finance (AF) and indicate the major research gaps. In this way, the survey may help to identify the factors influencing the flow of AF; provide analytical, and empirically supported underpinnings for policy work; and assess the amounts likely to be available. The focus of this survey is on aspects of country risks related to AF and the dispute settlement of international claims, domestic incentive schemes to attract foreign financing, the intermediation role of multinational firms and banks, and the supply side of AF.The survey thus investigates the incentives for individuals and firms, and, where necessary, takes into account the aggregate implications. The paper provides some descriptive statistics of AF and makes a comparison with traditional finance (TF). It identifies the key characteristics in which AF differs from TF and briefly reviews the factors motivating capital flows. The paper identifies the extent to which TF and AF differ in the factors motivating capital flows and to what extent the implications of these differences have been explored in the literature to date.Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research

Banking reform in transition countries

In reforming the financial sector in transition economies, one important debate is whether governments should try to reform existing state-owned banks (the rehabilitation approach) or whether a new private banking system should be allowed to emerge (a new entry approach). Or should there be a mix of the two approaches, in which the state bank activities are restricted while a parallel private banking system develops? The authors'cross-country comparison of banks'institutional development in 25 transitional economies suggests that progress can be faster under the new entry approach, especiallyrelative to initial conditions. Progress under the rehabilitation approach appears to be inhibited by poor incentives. In most countries, even those with a good banking infrastructure and a large segment of good banks, a two track process has evolved, with differences between weak and strong banks. Weak banks have moved little beyond central planning. Regression estimates suggest that slow progress of weak banks is associated with: cover concentration, government preferential treatment, and limited new banks entry. The causality direction is often unclear. Policies and structural conditions can affect bank quality. The role of banks will remain limited in many transition economies due to weak legal infrastructures, much uncertainty and inside information, and problems associated with highly leveraged financial intermediaries - including fraud, political interference, and implicit guarantees. In the short run, self-finance and intermediation among enterprises and through nonbank financial institutions may prevail.Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Settlement of Investment Disputes

Access to financial services: a review of the issues and public policy objectives

This paper reviews the evidence on the importance of finance for economic well-being, provides data on the degree of use of basic financial services by households and firms across a sample of countries, assesses the desirability of more universal access, and overviews the macroeconomic, legal, and regulatory obstacles to access using general evidence and case studies. Although access to finance can be very beneficial, the data show that universal use is far from prevalent in many countries, especially developing countries. At the same time, universal access has generally not been a public policy objective and is surely not easily achievable in most countries. Countries can, however, undertake many actions to facilitate access to financial services, including through strengthening their institutional infrastructures, liberalizing and opening up their markets and facilitating greater competition, and encouraging innovative use of know-how and technology. Government attempts and interventions to directly broaden the provision of access to finance, however, are fraught with risks and costs, among others, the risk of missing the targeted groups. The author concludes with possible global actions aimed at improving data on access and use, and areas for further analysis to help identify the constraints to broadening access.Banks&Banking Reform,Governance Indicators,Financial Intermediation,Poverty Assessment,Health Economics&Finance

The optimal currency composition of external debt

The increased volatility of exchange rates, interest rates and goods prices has focused fresh attention on the importance for developing countries of reducing their risks in these markets. Although, these countries generally cannotuse such conventional hedging instruments as currency and commodity futures, they can use the currency composition of their external debt to hedge against exchange rates and commodity prices. In this line, this paper uses findings from the literature on optimal portfolio theory to discuss the optimal currency composition of external debt. The analysis considers a small open economy facing a perfect world capital market and a large number of perfect commodity markets. The paper derives the optimal currency composition of the country's aggregate assets and external liabilities and describes the necessary estimations and computations, including how to take into account the currency composition of existing external liabilities.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Financial Intermediation

Equity portfolio investment in developing countries : a literature survey

The author surveys the literature on equity portfolio investment to develop a research agenda that could help developing countries interested in attracting equity portfolio flows. He finds that a broad literature exists on equity portfolio flows, but that most empirical tests have focused on industrial countries. Although some of the analytical papers may be applicable to developing countries, the author identifies areas of empirical research of specific interest to developing countries: identifying barriers that prevent a free flow of (equity portfolio) capitalbetween industrial and developing countries; quantifying the opportunity costs of these barriers in higher risk-adjusted cost of capital and lower flow of capital; analyzing the optimal amount of portfolio investment and the degree to which investors in industrial countries are currently (under-) invested in developing countries; and analyzing the efficiency of the various stock markets in developing countries, as inefficient stock markets could be a barrier to foreign flows. This research could help policymakers in developing countries make decisions about liberalizing capital accounts, reforming financial markets, and coping with the potential volatility of equity portfolio flows.Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Markets and Market Access

Black holes in symmetric spaces : anti-de Sitter spaces

Using symmetric space techniques, we show that closed orbits of the Iwasawa subgroups of $SO(2,l-1)$ naturally define singularities of a black hole causal structure in anti-de Sitter spaces in $l \geq 3$ dimensions. In particular, we recover for $l=3$ the non-rotating massive BTZ black hole. The method presented here is very simple and in principle generalizable to any semi-simple symmetric space.Comment: 23 pages, no figur

Hedging commodity price risks in Papua New Guinea

This paper shows that market-based financial instruments are better suited to manage external price risk for a country that is a price taker in world commodity markets. This is especially the case for mineral and energy price risks where financial instruments (such as commodity swaps) exist for hedging export earnings over long periods. For agricultural export earnings, short-term hedging tools, such as options and futures, could be used effectively. The authors design specific financial strategies that Papua New Guinea could use, and demonstrate the gains to be made from active risk management. The authors concludes that the lessons learned are not unique. Many developing countries are heavily dependent on primary commodities for foreign exchange, and their economic development has suffered from the resulting risks and instabilities. With increasing awareness of these risks and with technical assistance - strategic advice and assistance in institution building and skills training - developing countries can learn to use financial instruments to improve their economic management.Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research

Financial development, property rights, and growth

The authors analyze how property rights affect the allocation of firms'available resources among different types of assets. In particular, they investigate empirically for a large number of countries whether firms in environments with more secure property rights allocate available resources more toward intangible assets and consequentially grow faster. The authors find that improved asset allocation due to better property rights has an effect on growth in sectoral value added equal to improved access to financing arising from greater financial development. The results are robust, using various samples and specifications, including controlling for growth opportunities.Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Governance Indicators,Real&Intellectual Property Law