Asli Demirguc-kunt

Law and Firms' Access to Finance

This paper explores the relationship between the relative size of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector, economic growth, and poverty alleviation using a new database on the share of SME labor...

Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirguc-Kunt

This article examines how a country's legal origin influences the operation of its financial system by using firm-level survey data across a broad cross-section of countries on the obstacles that...

Interest rates, official lending, and the debt crisis: A reassessment

How important are financing constraints ? The role of finance in the business environment

Ayyagari, Meghana, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

What role does the business environment play in promoting and restraining firm growth? Recent literature points to a number of factors as obstacles to growth. Inefficient functioning of financial...

Funding growth in bank-based and market-based financial systems : evidence from firm level data

North American free trade agreement : issues on trade in financial services for Mexico

The authors investigate whether firms'access to external financing, to fund growth differs between market-based, and bank-based financial systems. Using firm-level data for forty countries, they...

Vittas, Dimitri, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Musalem, Alberto

To maximize the efficiency gains from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the regulatory environment for Mexican banking, insurance, and securities markets should be further harmonized...

Stock market development and financial intermediary growth : a research agenda

Financial constraints, uses of funds, and firm growth : an international comparison

Empirical evidence suggests that financial services - such as mobilizing savings, managing risk, allocating resources, and facilitating transactions - influence and are influenced by economic...

Costa Rican pension system : options for reform

The authors focus on two issues. First they examine whether firms in different countries finance long-term and short term investment similarly. Second, they investigate whether differences in...

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Schwarz, Anita

The Costa Rican Social Insurance Fund - the country's main social security institution - was established in 1941 to provide compulsory social insurance coverage for employees, through old-age,...

How well do institutional theories explain firms'perceptions of property rights?

Ayyagari, Meghana, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

The authors examine how well several institutional and firm-level factors and their interactions explain firms'perceptions of property rights protection. Their sample includes private and public...

Finance, Inequality, and Poverty: Cross-Country Evidence

Finance, Firm Size, and Growth

While substantial research finds that financial development boosts overall economic growth, we study whether financial development disproportionately raises the incomes of the poor and alleviates...

Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Luc Laeven, Ross Levine

This paper examines whether financial development boosts the growth of small firms more than large firms and hence provides information on the mechanisms through which financial development fosters...

Bank concentration, competition, and crises: First results

Financial performance and outreach : a global analysis of leading microbanks

Cull, Robert, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Morduch, Jonathan

Microfinance contracts have proven able to secure high rates of loan repayment in the face of limited liability and information asymmetries, but high repayment rates have not translated easily into...

Stock market development and firm financing choices

Firms as financial intermediaries - evidence from trade credit data

The authors empirically analyze the association between firm financing choices and the level of development of financial markets in 30 countries for the period 1980-91. For the whole sample, there is...

Law and finance : why does legal origin matter?

The authors argue that non-financial firms act as intermediaries, by channeling short-term funds from the financial institutions in an economy, to their best use. Non-financial firms act in this way...

Law and firms'access to finance

A growing body of work suggests that cross-country differences in legal origin help explain differences in financial development. The authors assess two theories of why legal origin influences...

Finance, inequality, and poverty: cross-country evidence

Why does a country's legal origin influence its firms'access to finance? Using data from over 4,000 firms in 38 countries, the authors show that firms in countries with French legal origin face...

The role of long term finance : theory and evidence

While substantial research finds that financial development boosts overall economic growth, the authors study whether financial development is pro-poor: Does financial development disproportionately...

Caprio Jr., Gerard, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli

The authors review the literature on term finance to place the research in context and discuss its implications for World Bank operations. Their project investigated whether industrial firms in...

The determinants of banking crises : evidence from industrial and developing countries

Determinants of commercial bank interest margins and profitability : some international evidence

In the 1980s and 1990s several countries experienced banking crises. The authors try to identify features of the economic environment that tend to breed problems in the banking sector. They do so by...

Financial structure and economic development - firm, industry, and country evidence

Using bank data for 80 countries for 1988-95, the authors show that differences in interest margins and bank profitability reflect various determinants: bank characteristics, macroeconomic...

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Levine, Ross, Maksimovic, Vojislav

The authors explore the relationship between financial structure - the degree to which a financial system is market- or bank-based - and economicdevelopment. They use three methodologies: 1) The...

Financial and legal institutions and firm size

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

The authors investigate how a country's financial institutions and the quality of its legal system explain the size attained by its largest industrial firms in a sample of 44 countries. Firm size is...

Law, politics, and finance

Bank supervision and corporate finance

The authors assess three established theories about the historical determinants of financial development. They also propose an augmented version of one of these theories. The law and finance view,...

Official credits to developing countries : implicit transfers to the banks

The authors examine the impact of bank supervision on the financing obstacles faced by almost 5,000 corporations across 49 countries. They find that firms in countries with strong official...

Bank concentration and crises

This paper investigates the impact on the wealth of bank share holders on the transfer of official resources to the debtor countries. The main aim was to derive actual estimates of increases in...

Bank Competition and Access to Finance: International Evidence.

The authors study the impact of bank concentration, regulations, and national institutions on the likelihood of suffering a systemic banking crisis. Using data on 79 countries over the period...

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Using a unique database for 74 countries and for firms of small, medium, and large size we assess the effect of banking market structure on the access of firms to bank finance. We find that bank...

Regulations, Market Structure, Institutions, and the Cost of Financial Intermediation.

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Laeven, Luc, Levine, Ross

This paper examines the impact of bank regulations, market structure, and national institutions on bank net interest margins and overhead costs using data on over 1400 banks across 72 countries while...

The determinants of financing obstacles

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Laeven, Luc, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Firm innovation in emerging markets : the roles of governance and finance

Ayyagari, Meghana, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

The authors investigate the determinants of firm innovation in over 19,000 firms across 47 developing economies. They define the innovation process broadly, to include not only core innovation such...

Law and Finance: why Does Legal Origin Matter?

The Brady Plan, the 1989 Mexican debt reduction agreement, and bank stock returns in the United States and Japan

New research suggests that cross-country differences in legal origin help explain differences in financial development. This paper empirically assesses two theories of why legal origin influences...

Unal, Haluk, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Kwok-Wai Leung

The authors investigate the impact of the menu approach to debt rescheduling on the market value of two major creditors: U.S. and Japanese banks. They try to understand how major creditor banks are...

The financial system and public enterprise reform : concepts and cases

Stock market development and financial intermediaries : stylized facts

Public enterprise reform is an important part of policy strategies to accelerate economic growth in many countries. The authors identify two distinct but complementary approaches to public enterprise...

How does foreign entry affect the domestic banking market?

World stock markets are booming. Between 1982 and 1993, stock market capitalization grew from $2 trillion to $10 trillion, an average 15 percent a year. A disproportionate amount of this growth was...

Claessens, Stijn, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Huizinga, Harry

Banking markets are becoming increasingly international through financial liberalization and general economic integration. Using bank-level data for 80 countries for 1988-95, the authors examine the...

Monitoring banking sector fragility : a multivariate logit approach with an application to the 1996-97 banking crises

Bank-based and market-based financial systems - cross-country comparisons

The authors explore how a multivariate logit empirical model of banking crisis probabilities can be used to monitor fragility in the banking sector. The proposed approach relies on readily available...

A new database on financial development and structure

What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of bank-based financial systems (as in Germany and Japan) and market-based financial systems (as in England and the United States). Does financial...

Does deposit insurance increase banking system stability ? An empirical investigation

The authors introduce a new database of indicators of financial development and structure across countries and over time. This database is unique in that it unites a variety of indicators that...

Financial structure and bank profitability

Based on evidence of 61 countries in 1980-97, the authors find that explicit deposit insurance tends to be detrimental to bank stability, the more so where bank interest rates are deregulated and the...

Inside the crisis : an empirical analysis of banking systems in distress

Countries differ in the extent to which their financial systems are bank-based or market-based. The financial systems of Germany and Japan, for example, are considered bank-based because banks play a...

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Detragiache, Enrica, Gupta, Poonam

Much of the substantial literature on banking crises, focuses on early warning indicators. The authors look at what happens to the economy, and the banking sector after a banking crisis breaks out....

Financial and legal constraints to firm growth - Does size matter?

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Using a unique firm-level survey data base, covering fifty four countries, the authors investigate whether different financial, legal, and corruptionissues that firms report as constraints, actually...

Business Environment and the Incorporation Decision

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Love, Inessa, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Using firm-level data from 52 countries, the authors investigate how a country's institutions and business environment affect firms'organizational choices and the effects of organizational form on...

Finance, firm size, and growth

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Laeven, Luc, Levine, Ross

The authors examine whether financial development boosts the growth of small firms more than large firms and hence provides information on the mechanisms through which financial development fosters...

Deposit insurance around the world : a comprehensive database

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Karacaovali, Baybars, Laeven, Luc

This paper updates the Demirguç-Kunt and Sobaci (2001) cross-country deposit insurance database and extends it in several important dimensions. This new data set identifies both recent adopters and...

Cross-country empirical studies of systemic bank distress : a survey

Reaching out : access to and use of banking services across countries

A rapidly growing empirical literature is studying the causes and consequences of bank fragility in contemporary economies. The authors reviews the two basic methodologies adopted in cross-country...

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad

The authors (1) present new indicators of banking sector penetration across 99 countries based on a survey of bank regulatory authorities, (2) show that these indicators predict household and firm...

Determinants of deposit-insurance adoption and design

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Kane, Edward J., Laeven, Luc

The authors seek to identify factors that influence decisions about a country's financial safety net, using a new dataset on 170 countries covering the 1960-2003 period. Specifically, they focus on...

What determines protection of property rights ? An analysis of direct and indirect effects

Ayyagari, Meghana, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Using cross-country data, the authors evaluate historical determinants of protection of property rights. They examine four historical theories that focus on conceptually distinct causal variables...

Banking on the principles : compliance with Basel Core Principles and bank soundness

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Detragiache, Enrica, Tressel, Thierry

This paper studies whether compliance with the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision (BCP) improves bank soundness. BCP compliance assessments provide a unique source of information...

Finance and economic development : policy choices for developing countries

Do workers'remittances promote financial development ?

The empirical literature on finance and development suggests that countries with better developed financial systems experience faster economic growth. Financial development-as captured by size,...

Aggarwal, Reena, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad

Workers'remittances to developing countries have become the second largest type of flows after foreign direct investment. The authors use data on workers'remittance flows to 99 developing countries...

Deposit insurance design and implementation : policy lessons from research and practice

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Kane, Edward J., Laeven, Luc

This paper illustrates the trends in deposit insurance adoption. It discusses the cross-country differences in design, and synthesizes the policy messages from cross-country empirical work as well as...

Banking services for everyone ? Barriers to bank access and use around the world

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad

Using information from 193 banks in 58 countries, the authors develop and analyze indicators of physical access, affordability, and eligibility barriers to deposit, loan, and payment services. They...

The menu approach to developing country external debt : an analysis of commercial banks'choice behavior

Diwan, Ishac, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli

This study provides evidence that bank characteristics are significant determinants of commercial-bank choice behavior when confronted with a menu of options. It develops a theoretical model of bank...

Capital positions of Japanese banks

Kane, Edward J., Unal, Haluk, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli

Japanese banks are promising sources of capital for developing countries wishing to finance a balance of payments gap. This paper shows that Japanese banks are highly capitalized in terms of market...

The role of officially supported export credits in sub-Saharan Africa's external financing

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Erzan, Refik

This paper addresses the question of how important officially supported export credits (OSECs) were, both in quantity and quality, in Sub-Saharan Africa's (SSA) external financing during the last two...

Creditor country regulations and commercial bank lending to developing countries

Interest rates, official lending, and the debt crisis : a reassessment

Ever since the debt crisis of 1982, commercial banks continue to be reluctant in lending to developing countries. It is often argued that regulatory pressures on commercial banks have also...

Developing country capital structures and emerging stock markets

The authors document and try to explain the sizable cross-country differences in interest rates on external debt paid by a group of highly indebted developing countries in 1973-89. They find that...

Burden-sharing among official and private creditors

In the developing world financing patterns vary greatly from what we observe in developed countries. In the poorest developing countries firms rely mostly on internal resources and informal credit...

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Fernandez-Arias, Eduardo

The authors analyze how the burden of the debt crisis has been shared by various classes of creditors. Given the rising share of official debt in the total debt of developing countries, official...

Barriers to portfolio investments in emerging stock markets

The Brady Plan, 1989 Mexican Debt-Reduction Agreement, and Bank Stock Returns in United States and Japan.

The authors examine to what extent features of the international tax system and indicators of transaction costs affect the required rates of return on emerging stock markets. They show that the...

Unal, Haluk, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Leung, Kwok-Wai

Official Credits to Developing Countries: Implicit Transfers to the Banks.

Bank supervision and corruption in lending

This paper provides evidence that commercial banks have benefited greatly from official monies made available directly to developing countries or indirectly to the multilateral lending agencies. In...

Market discipline and deposit insurance

Does deposit insurance increase banking system stability? An empirical investigation

Inside the crisis: An empirical analysis of banking systems in distress

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Detragiache, Enrica, Gupta, Poonam

Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli

Business environment and the incorporation decision

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Love, Inessa, Maksimovic, Vojislav

The influence of financial and legal institutions on firm size

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

Finance and economic opportunity

Finance, financial sector policies, and long-run growth

An influential body of theoretical research and an emerging line of empirical work suggest that the operation of the formal financial system affects the degree to which economic opportunities are...

Formal versus informal finance : evidence from China

The first part of this paper reviews the literature on the relation between finance and growth. The second part of the paper reviews the literature on the historical and policy determinants of...

Ayyagari, Meghana, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Maksimovic, Vojislav

China is often mentioned as a counterexample to the findings in the finance and growth literature since, despite the weaknesses in its banking system, it is one of the fastest growing economies in...

The Determinants of Banking Crises in Developing and Developed Countries

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Enrica Detragiache

This paper studies the factors associated with the emergence of systemic banking crises in a large sample of developed and developing countries in 1980-94 using a multivariate logit econometric...

Small and Medium Enterprises Across the Globe

Meghana Ayyagari, Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirguc-Kunt

Small and Medium Enterprises, L11, L25, L26, O17,

Reaching out: Access to and use of banking services across countries

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad

Law and finance: why does legal origin matter?

Does Deposit Insurance Increase Banking System Stability? An Empirical Investigation

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Enrica Detragiache

No abstract.

Deposit Insurance around the Globe: Where Does It Work?

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Edward J. Kane

Explicit deposit insurance has been spreading rapidly in recent years, even to countries with low levels of financial and institutional development. This paper documents the extent of cross-country...

Law, endowments, and finance

Funding growth in bank-based and market-based financial systems: evidence from firm-level data

Institutions, financial markets, and firm debt maturity

Cross-country evidence on deposit-insurance

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Kane, Edward J.

SMEs, Growth, and Poverty: Cross-Country Evidence

Market Discipline and Financial Safety Net Design

Firm size, market structure, economic development, O1, O2, L11, L25,

The Determinants of Banking Crises in Developing and Developed Countries

An important question is whether the financial safety net reduces market discipline on bank risk taking. For countries with varying deposit insurance schemes, we find that deposit rates continue to...

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Enrica Detragiache

This paper studies the factors associated with the emergence of systemic banking crises in a large sample of developed and developing countries in 1980-94 using a multivariate logit econometric...

The Role of Long-Term Finance: Theory and Evidence.

Finance, Firm Size, and Growth

Improving the supply of long-term credit to industrial firms is considered a priority for growth in developing countries. A World Bank multicountry study looks at whether a long-term credit shortage...

THORSTEN BECK, ASLI DEMIRGUC-KUNT, LUC LAEVEN, ROSS LEVINE

Although research shows that financial development accelerates aggregate economic growth, economists have not resolved conflicting theoretical predictions and ongoing policy disputes about the...

Microfinance meets the market

Cull, Robert, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Morduch, Jonathan

Microfinance institutions have proved the possibility of providing reliable banking services to poor customers. Their second aim is to do so in a commercially-viable way. This paper analyzes the...

Capital Positions of Japanese Banks

Edward J. Kane, Haluk Unal, Asli Demirguc-Kunt

Deposit Insurance Around the Globe: Where Does it Work?

Edward J. Kane, Asli Demirguc-Kunt

Explicit deposit insurance has been spreading rapidly in recent years, even to countries with low levels of financial and institutional development. Economic theory indicates that deposit-insurance...

Law, Endowment, and Finance

Bank Supervision and Corporate Finance

This paper assesses two theories regarding the historical determinants of international differences in financial development. The law and finance theory holds that legal traditions differ in terms of...

Regulations, Market Structure, Institutions, and the Cost of Financial Intermediation

We examine the impact of bank supervision on the financing obstacles faced by almost 5,000 corporations across 49 countries. We find that firms in countries with strong official supervisory agencies...

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Luc Laeven, Ross Levine

This paper examines the impact of bank regulations, market structure, and national institutions on bank net interest margins and overhead costs using data on over 1,400 banks across 72 countries...

Bank Concentration and Crises

Law and Firms' Access to Finance

Motivated by public policy debates about bank consolidation and conflicting theoretical predictions about the relationship between the market structure of the banking industry and bank fragility,...

Bank Supervision and Corruption in Lending

This paper contributes to the literature on how a country's legal origin influences the operation of its financial system by using firm-level survey data on the obstacles that firms face in raising...

Bank Concentration and Fragility: Impact and Mechanics

Which commercial bank supervisory policies ease or intensify the degree to which bank corruption is an obstacle to firms raising external finance? Based on new data from more than 2,500 firms across...

Determinants of Deposit-Insurance Adoption and Design

Public policy debates and theoretical disputes motivate this paper%u2019s examination of (i) the relationship between bank concentration and banking system fragility and (ii) the mechanisms...

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Edward J. Kane, Luc Laeven

This paper identifies factors that influence decisions about a country's financial safety net, using a comprehensive dataset covering 180 countries during the 1960-2003 period. Our analysis focuses...

The 2007 meltdown in structured securitization : searching for lessons, not scapegoats

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Kane, Edward J.

The intensity of recent turbulence in financial markets has surprised nearly everyone. This paper searches out the root causes of the crisis, distinguishing them from scapegoating explanations that...

Financial Structure and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Comparison of Banks, Markets, and Development

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Ross Levine

This is the first broad cross-country assessment of the ties between financial structure—the mix of financial instruments, institutions, and markets in a given economy—and economic growth since...

Bank Financing for SMEs around the World: Drivers, Obstacles, Business Models, and Lending Practices

Beck, Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Soledad Martinez Peria, Maria

Using data from a survey of 91 banks in 45 countries, the authors characterize bank financing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world. They find that banks perceive the SME segment to...

Are All the Sacred Cows Dead? Implications of the Financial Crisis for Macro and Financial Policies

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Serven, Luis

The recent global financial crisis has shaken the confidence of developed and developing countries alike in the very blueprint of financial and macro policies that underlie the western capitalist...

Bank Activity and Funding Strategies: The Impact on Risk and Return

Entrepreneurship in post-conflict transition : the role of informality and access to finance

This paper examines the implications of bank activity and short-term funding strategies for bank risk and return using an international sample of 1334 banks in 101 countries leading up to the 2007...

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Klapper, Leora F., Panos, Georgios A.

The authors examine the factors affecting the transition to self-employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, using the World Bank Living Standard Measurement Survey panel household survey for the years...

Microfinance Meets the Market

Robert Cull, Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Jonathan Morduch

In this paper, we examine the economic logic behind microfinance institutions and consider the movement from socially oriented nonprofit microfinance institutions to for-profit microfinance. Drawing...

Does regulatory supervision curtail microfinance profitability and outreach ?

Cull , Robert, Demirguc-Kunt , Asli, Morduch, Jonathan

Regulation allows microfinance institutions to evolve more fully into banks, particularly for institutions aiming to take deposits. But there are potential trade-offs. Complying with regulation and...

Financial institutions and markets across countries and over time - data and analysis

Beck , Thorsten, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Levine, Ross

This paper introduces the updated and expanded version of the Financial Development and Structure Database and presents recent trends in structure and development of financial institutions and...

On the Presence of Speculative Bubbles in Stock Prices

Dezhbakhsh, Hashem, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli

We examine empirically the existence of speculative bubbles in U.S. stock prices and, by building on West's procedure, propose direct and computationally simple tests of the hypothesis. These tests...

Finance and inequality : theory and evidence

Remittances and banking sector breadth and depth : evidence from Mexico

This paper critically reviews the literature on finance and inequality, highlighting substantive gaps in the literature. Finance plays a crucial role in most theories of persistent inequality....

Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Lopez Cordova, Ernesto, Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, Woodruff, Christopher

Despite the rising volume of remittances flowing to developing countries, their impact on banking sector breadth and depth in recipient countries has been largely unexplored. The authors examine this...

Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence

Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Ross Levine

This paper critically reviews the literature on finance and inequality, highlighting substantive gaps in the literature. Finance plays a crucial role in most theories of persistent inequality....

Microfinance tradeoffs : regulation, competition, and financing

Cull, Robert, Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Morduch, Jonathan

This paper describes important trade-offs that microfinance practitioners, donors, and regulators navigate. Drawing evidence from large, global surveys of microfinance institutions, the authors find...

Basel core principles and bank soundness : does compliance matter ?