Decentralized Creditor-led Corporate Restructuring
Decentralized Creditor-led Corporate Restructuring

Author: Marinela E. Dado

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

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Countries that have experienced banking crises have adopted one of two distinct approaches toward the resolution of nonperforming assets--a centralized or a decentralized solution. A centralized approach entails setting up a government agency--an asset management company--with the full responsibility for acquiring, restructuring, and selling of the assets. A decentralized approach relies on banks and other creditors to manage and resolve nonperforming assets. Dado and Klingebiel study banking crises where governments adopted a decentralized, creditor-led workout strategy following systemic crises. They use a case study approach and analyze seven banking crises in which governments mainly relied on banks to resolve nonperforming assets. The study suggests that out of the seven cases, only Chile, Norway, and Poland successfully restructured their corporate sectors with companies attaining viable financial structures. The analysis underscores that as in the case of a centralized strategy the prerequisites for a successful decentralized restructuring strategy are manifold. The successful countries significantly improved the banking system's capital position, enabling banks to write down loan losses; banks as well as corporations had adequate incentives to engage in corporate restructuring; and ownership links between banks and corporations were limited or severed during crises. This paper--a product of the Financial Sector Operations and Policy Department--is part of a larger effort in the department to examine the resolution of financial crises.

Cyprus
Cyprus

Author: International Monetary Fund. European Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2014-10-22

Total Pages: 76

ISBN-13: 1498371019

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This Selected Issues paper on Cyprus models the evolution of the saving rate to help shed some light on its determinants, which could help inform medium-term projections. This paper suggests that household net wealth and unemployment are key determinants of the saving rate in Cyprus. Cypriot households dissaved in the period preceding the global crisis, as their wealth increased, and credit could be used to finance consumption. The data uncertainty, due to various data sources used and relatively short time-period may affect the regression results. Moreover, in the estimation, the endogeneity between household wealth and the saving rate, as well as between unemployment and the saving rate may have not been fully controlled through lags. Due to the lack of micro-level data, the analysis does not explore the distributional consideration with respect to wealth. Since wealth is likely distributed unevenly, high indebted households with limited wealth are likely to reduce their saving rate more than the average to support consumption in the face of economic stress. The forward-looking projections are also subject to considerable uncertainty and should be interpreted with care.

Economic Development, Competition Policy, and the World Trade Organization
Economic Development, Competition Policy, and the World Trade Organization

Author: Bernard M. Hoekman

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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At the recent World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, WTO members called for the launch of negotiations on disciplines relating to competition based on explicit consensus on modalities to be agreed at the fifth WTO ministerial meeting in 2003. WTO discussions since 1997 have revealed little support for ambitious multilateral action. Proponents of the WTO antitrust disciplines currently propose an agreement that is limited to "core principles"-nondiscrimination, transparency, and provisions banning "hard core" cartels. The authors argue that an agreement along such lines will create compliance costs for developing countries without addressing the anticompetitive behavior of firms located in foreign jurisdictions. To be unambiguously beneficial to low-income countries, any WTO antitrust disciplines should recognize the capacity constraints that prevail in these economies, make illegal collusive business practices by firms with international operations that raise prices in developing country markets, and require competition authorities in high-income countries to take action against firms located in their jurisdictions to defend the interests of affected developing country consumers. More generally, a case is made that traditional liberalization commitments using existing WTO fora will be the most effective means of lowering prices and increasing access to an expanded variety of goods and services.

Financial Regulatory Harmonization and the Globalization of Finance
Financial Regulatory Harmonization and the Globalization of Finance

Author: Cally Jordan

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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In the globalizing economy, national policymakers are often forced to accept the challenge of financial integration. Faced with the potentially destabilizing effects of international financial markets, they have to strengthen financial regulation, importing international best practices and aligning domestic with foreign regulation, to avoid destabilizing phenomena of regulatory arbitrage. The authors explore the main features of the ongoing process of worldwide financial regulatory convergence and the role played by the global dissemination of financial standards and codes. They analyze the reasons behind the generalized acceptance of international best practices and the limits of the standards and codes approach to financial regulatory harmonization.

Financial Development and Dynamic Investment Behavior
Financial Development and Dynamic Investment Behavior

Author: Inessa Love

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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The authors apply vector autoregression to firm-level panel data from 36 countries to study the dynamic relationship between firms' financial conditions and investment. They argue that by using orthogonalized impulse-response functions they are able to separate the "fundamental factors" (such as marginal profitability of investment) from the "financial factors" (such as availability of internal finance) that influence the level of investment. The authors find that the impact of the financial factors on investment, which they interpret as evidence of financing constraints, is significantly larger in countries with less developed financial systems. The finding emphasizes the role of financial development in improving capital allocation and growth.

Financial globalization : unequal blessings
Financial globalization : unequal blessings

Author: Augusto de la Torre

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13:

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De la Torre, Levy Yeyati, and Schmukler present a framework to analyze financial globalization. They argue that financial globalization needs to take into account the relation between money (particularly in its role as store of value), asset and factor price flexibility, and contractual and regulatory institutions. Countries that have the "blessed trinity" (international currency, flexible exchange rate regime, and sound contractual and regulatory environment) can integrate successfully into the world financial markets. But developing countries normally display the "unblessed trinity" (weak currency, fear of floating, and weak institutional framework). The authors define and discuss two alternative avenues (a "dollar trinity" and a "peso trinity") for developing countries to safely embrace international financial integration while the blessed trinity remains beyond reach. This paper--a product of the Office of the Chief Economist, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, and the Investment Climate Team, Development Research Group--is part of a larger effort in the Bank to assess the implications of financial globalization for emerging economies.

Government at Risk
Government at Risk

Author: Hana Polackova Brixi

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 9780821348352

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Many governments have faced serious instability as a result of their contingent liabilities. But conventional public finance analysis and institutions fail to address such fiscal risks. This book aims to provide motivation and practical guidance to governments seeking to improve their management of fiscal risks. The book addresses some of the difficult analytical and institutional challenges that face reformers tooling up to manage government fiscal risks. It discusses the inadequacies of conventional practices as well as recent advances in dealing with fiscal risk.

Macroeconomic Effects of Private Sector Participation in Latin America's Infrastructure
Macroeconomic Effects of Private Sector Participation in Latin America's Infrastructure

Author: Lourdes Trujillo

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published:

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: Trujillo, Martín, Estache, and Campos provide empirical evidence on the impact that private participation in infrastructure has had on key macroeconomic variables in a sample of 21 Latin American countries from 1985-98. Specifically, they look at the effects on GDP per capita, current public expenditures, public investment, and private investment, controlling for country effects and institutional factors. The authors also investigate the relevance of the specific contractual form of private participation contracts on these variables and show differentiated effects according to contract types. The results suggest that: Private sector involvement in utilities and transport have some, but not impressive, positive effects on GDP per capita; There is some degree of crowding-out of private investment resulting from greenfield projects in utilities, and delayed crowding-in from concessions in transport. There is crowding-in of public investment by private participation in utilities, while there is crowding-out by increased private investment in transport; Private participation in utilities decreases recurrent expenditures, while in transport it results in an increase. The net effect on the public sector account is uncertain, but this uncertainty is a major risk. The revelation of this risk may be the main contribution of this paper since it is inconsistent with the fiscal gains expected by many policymakers as they engage in infrastructure privatization programs. This paper"a product of the Governance, Regulation, and Finance Division, World Bank Institute, and Finance, Private Sector, and Infrastructure Unit, Latin America and the Caribbean Region"is part of a larger effort in the Bank to increase understanding of infrastructure regulation.

Law and Finance
Law and Finance

Author: Thorsten Beck

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13:

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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 financial development. First, the political' channel stresses that (i) legal traditions differ in the priority they give to the rights of individual investors vis- ...-vis the state and (ii) this has repercussions for the development of property rights and financial markets. Second, the adaptability' channel holds that (i) legal traditions differ in their ability to adjust to changing commercial circumstances and (ii) legal systems that adapt quickly to minimize the gap between the contracting needs of the economy and the legal system's capabilities will foster financial development more effectively than would more rigid legal traditions. We use historical comparisons and cross-country regressions to assess the validity of these two channels. We find that legal origin matters for financial development because legal traditions differ in their ability to adapt efficiently to evolving economic conditions.