Is culture a determinant of financial development?

The paper investigates the missing link in the literature – whether informal institutions, or what is known as culture, can affect the level of financial development for a country? Our hypothesis stresses that the cultural dimensions of a country can have an impact on its financial set up. We consider multiple dimensions of culture, identified in the literature by Tabellini, to test our hypothesis. As culture evolve in the form of greater trust, control and other traits, individuals’ attitudes towards financial market change, and they engage in greater financial transactions. This, in turn, leads to better financial development. Using quantile estimation technique for a cross-section of 90 countries we find that culture significantly influences the level of financial development. To ensure the robustness of our findings we use Hofstede’s cultural dimension-‘uncertainty avoidance index’ as an alternative measure for culture. Our results hold for multiple measures of financial development.Informal Institutions, Financial Development, Culture, Social capital

Evaluating inflation forecast models for Poland: Openness matters, money does not (but its cost does)

Countries in which inflation targeting has been adopted require high quality inflation forecasts. The Polish National Bank adopted a variant of implicit inflation targeting and therefore the ability to forecast inflation is critically important to policy makers. Since the domestic price formation process is still evolving, medium term inflation forecasting is often difficult. Using quarterly data from 1995-2007, we estimate and evaluate three types of models for inflation forecasting: (1) output gap models, (2) models involving money, and (3) models which bring the foreign sector into the price formation process. We find that openness is significant in the price formation process and inflation targeting is associated with lower inflation. Traditional measures of forecast accuracy indicate that the simple price gap version of the P* model and the money demand model perform best of this group for medium term forecasting

Evaluating inflation forecast models for Poland: Openness matters, money does not (but its cost does)

Countries in which inflation targeting has been adopted require high quality inflation forecasts. The Polish National Bank adopted a variant of implicit inflation targeting and therefore the ability to forecast inflation is critically important to policy makers. Since the domestic price formation process is still evolving, medium term inflation forecasting is often difficult. Using quarterly data from 1995-2007, we estimate and evaluate three types of models for inflation forecasting: (1) output gap models, (2) models involving money, and (3) models which bring the foreign sector into the price formation process. We find that openness is significant in the price formation process and inflation targeting is associated with lower inflation. Traditional measures of forecast accuracy indicate that the simple price gap version of the P* model and the money demand model perform best of this group for medium term forecasting

Is culture a determinant of financial development?

The paper investigates the missing link in the literature – whether informal institutions, or what is known as culture, can affect the level of financial development for a country? Our hypothesis stresses that the cultural dimensions of a country can have an impact on its financial set up. We consider multiple dimensions of culture, identified in the literature by Tabellini, to test our hypothesis. As culture evolve in the form of greater trust, control and other traits, individuals’ attitudes towards financial market change, and they engage in greater financial transactions. This, in turn, leads to better financial development. Using quantile estimation technique for a cross-section of 90 countries we find that culture significantly influences the level of financial development. To ensure the robustness of our findings we use Hofstede’s cultural dimension-‘uncertainty avoidance index’ as an alternative measure for culture. Our results hold for multiple measures of financial development

Foreign Capital, Spillovers and Export Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Indian IT Firms

The role of foreign capital inflow, foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign portfolio investment (FPI), on export behavior of both recipients and non-recipient competing firms in the same sector often guides economic development policy. By using panel data of Indian IT firms over 2000-2006, we show that FDI reduces the sunk costs of entering foreign markets and therefore positively effects both the decision to export and the export propensity of recipient firms. Foreign portfolio investment has no effect on the decision to export, but it does marginally increase the volume of exports. Further, these positive FDI and FPI recipient effects do not spill-over to non-recipients

Do Green Bonds Offer a Diversification Opportunity During COVID19? - An Empirical Evidence from Energy, Crypto, and Carbon Markets

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/17326/87208-thumbnail.jpgUsing the S&amp;P green bond index (RSPGB), this study attempts to unravel the connectedness of the green bond with energy, crypto, and carbon markets. We use MAC global solar energy index (RMGS) and ISE global wind energy index (RIGW) as proxies of the energy market. In addition, we consider Bitcoin and the European energy exchange carbon index (REEX) for the cryptocurrency, and carbon market, respectively. Using the daily data from October 1, 2015, to December 13, 2021, of these constituent markets, we employ Diebold Yilmaz (2012), Barunik and Krehlik (2017), and wavelet coherence. The result reveals that the energy market (RMGS) has the highest connectedness derived from other asset classes, and bitcoin (RBTC) has the least connectedness. In addition, we note that risk transmission is heterogeneous in different scales as the short period has less connectedness than the medium and long run. Hence, the overall diversification opportunity among green bonds, energy stock, Bitcoin, and the carbon market is more in the short-run than in the medium and long-run. Surprisingly, there is no lead-lag relationship among these markets. This study provides insights to investors, policymakers, and portfolio managers.</p