On the Backwardness in Macroeconomic Performance of European Socialist Economies

This paper aims to compare the macroeconomic performance of three European socialist economies (Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia) with developing and developed countries during the eighties. Using panel data for 87 countries, we measure macroeconomic performance with two frontier efficiency techniques: the stochastic frontier approach, and the time-varying WITHIN model proposed by Cornwell, Schmidt and Sickles (1990). We conclude in favor of the underperformance of socialist countries in relation to developed countries but also to developing countries, which may be explained by the features of the socialist economic system.Productivity analysis, socialist system, stochastic frontier approach, growth.

Do Islamic banks have greater market power?

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether Islamic banks have greater market power than con-ventional banks. An Islamic bank, for example, might enjoy enhanced market power if a captive clientele adhering to religious principles permits it to charge higher prices. To measure market power, we compute Lerner indices for a sample of banks from 17 countries where Islamic and conventional banks coexist. Comparison of Lerner indices shows no significant difference between Islamic banks and conventional banks over the period 2000-2007. When including control variables, regression of Lerner indices even suggests that Islamic banks have less market power than conventional banks. A robustness check with the Rosse-Panzar model confirms that Islamic banks are no less competitive than conventional banks. Thus, any reduced market power of Islamic banks can be attributed to differences in norms and incentives.Islamic banks; Lerner index; bank competition

How corruption affects bank lending in Russia

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of corruption on bank lending in Russia. This issue is of major interest in order to understand the causes of financial underdevelopment and the effects of corruption in Russia. We use regional measures of corruption and bank-level data to perform this investigation. Our main estimations show that corruption hampers bank lending in Russia. We investigate whether this negative role of corruption is influenced by the degree of bank risk aversion, but find no effect. The detrimental effect of corruption is only observed for loans to households and firms, in opposition to loans to government. Additional controls confirm the detrimental impact of corruption on bank lending. Therefore, our results provide motivations to fight corruption to favor bank lending in Russia.corruption; bank; Russia; financial development; economic transition

What Determines Leverage in Transition Countries?

This note investigates the determinants of leverage usually tested in Western countries on a large sample of manufacturing companies from six transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe in 1998. We observe at that time the significance of tested factors in most countries, with some differences in comparison to Western countries. The few differences between transition countries suggest the existence of specific characteristics in determinants of leverage for these economies.financial leverage, transition economies, manufacturing

Convergence in Banking Efficiency Across European Countries

Since the preparation of the Single Market program in the 80s, financial integration in Europe has been expected to provide gains in growth by favoring competition and efficiency on financial markets. Our paper aims to check whether financial integration has taken place on the banking markets, by investigating the convergence in banking efficiency for European Union countries. We measure cost efficiency of banks from 10 EU countries between 1994 and 2005 with the stochastic frontier approach. Our work then constitutes the first one to apply tests of β and σ convergence specified for panel data on banking efficiency measures. We provide evidence of cross-country differences in cost efficiency and of an improvement in cost efficiency for all EU countries. Tests of convergence support the view of a process in convergence in cost efficiency between EU countries. Robustness checks with alternative specifications confirm these findings. These results support the view that financial integration has taken place on the EU banking markets in the recent years.Banking, convergence, efficiency, European integration, stochastic frontier approach.

Radius and profile of random planar maps with faces of arbitrary degrees

We prove some asymptotic results for the radius and the profile of large random rooted planar maps with faces of arbitrary degrees. Using a bijection due to Bouttier, Di Francesco and Guitter between rooted planar maps and certain four-type trees with positive labels, we derive our results from a conditional limit theorem for four-type spatial Galton-Watson trees.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

Measuring Excessive Risk-Taking in Banking

In this paper we propose a new approach to the assessment of excessive risk-taking by a banking sector. We use the portfolio approach to assess the optimal risk-return combination of a bank’s portfolio, based on data for 32 categories of loans. It provides a benchmark for the optimality of the bank’s portfolio. We apply this method on an exhaustive sample of Czech banks for the period January 2005–-February 2008. We observe an average excess of risk-taking of 33% of the optimal risk (excessive risk-taking thus measures the percentage reduction in the risk of the portfolio that the banking sector could have exhibited had the portfolio been efficient) and a reduction of this excess risk over the analysed period.Bank, financial stability, risk-taking, transition countries.