relationship. All subsequent studies confirmed it (see for example King and Levine, 1993, and the review in: Pagano, 1993). Goldsmith used a sample of 35 countries for the period between 1860 and 1963 to show the relationship between income and financial depth measured by the ratio between bank's assets and GDP. He also showed that in periods of rapid growth, financial depth grows faster than income. More details about measuring financial depth can be found in this paper. FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Velimir Šonje

/pdf/financial-development-and-economic-growth-1933kuo17q.pdf

Financial development and economic growth

Panel Data in Econometrics

Production Frontiers: Introduction

https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6240/1/MPRA_paper_6240.pdf

The impact of climatic change on agricultural production: Is it different for Africa?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find the relationship of capital structure decision with the performance of the firms in the developing market economies like Pakistan. Methodology: Pooled Ordinary Least Square regression was applied to 36 engineering sector firms in Pakistani market listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) during the period 2003-2009. Findings: The results show that financial leverage measured by short term debt to total assets (STDTA) and total debt to total assets (TDTA) has a significantly negative relationship with the firm performance measured by Return on Assets (ROA), Gross Profit Margin (GM) and Tobin’s Q. The relationship between financial leverage and firm performance measured by the return on equity (ROE) is negative but insignificant. Asset size has an insignificant relationship with the firm performance measured by ROA and GM but negative and significant relationship exists with Tobin’s Q. Firms in the engineering sector of Pakistan are largely dependent on short term debt but debts are attached with strong covenants which affect the performance of the firm. Originality/Value: This is first paper to study an individual sector like engineering industry in Pakistan on the mentioned topic.

/pdf/the-relationship-of-capital-structure-decisions-with-firm-l2ag99mttl.pdf

The relationship of capital structure decisions with firm performance: A study of the engineering sector of Pakistan

The question of the optimal spread between bank lending rates and rates that banks pay on deposits, which is fair to bankers, depositors and borrowers, has dogged economies for some time. In Ghana, there is widespread perception that the spread is too wide. Bankers, on the other hand justify the spread on the basis of economic variables that affect them. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying, in the case of Ghana, the short-run response of the net interest margin of banks to changes in bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic variables within the broad framework of Ho and Saunders (1981). We find that increases in the following factors significantly increase net interest margin — bank market power (or concentration), bank size, staff costs, administrative costs, extent of bank risk aversion and the rate of inflation. On the other hand, increases in the following variables decrease net interest margin significantly — bank excess cash reserves, the central bank lending rate, management efficiency and the passage of time. To help reduce interest rate margins, we recommend that banks should not get too big, the central bank should consider lowering the capital adequacy ratio and banks should be required to pass on to borrowers the full extent of reductions or increases in the central bank lending rate. Continued efforts at keeping inflation at bay will also help.

Explaining interest rate spreads in Ghana

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether in Ghana, corporate governance, outreach to clients, reduced dependence on subsidies and use of modern technology (together called corporate governance plus) are associated with the performance of rural and community banks (RCBs), which are microfinance institutions (MFI), in the context of newly adopted codes of conduct and regulations, ownership rules and quality of management.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 30 randomly sampled RCBs were categorized into four groups based on analysis of several dimensions of financial performance. Next, RCBs were again categorized into four groups based on their corporate governance plus. A chi‐squared test of independence between the two groupings was performed.Findings – The authors found no association between RCBs' categories based on corporate governance plus and their categories based on financial performance.Practical implication – To enhance performance, corporate governance plus must impact fi...

Are Ghanaian MFIs' performance associated with corporate governance?

Purpose – This paper takes the finance-growth nexus further by looking at the relationship between bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth in Ghana. The purpose of this paper is to find the causality among bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach – The relationship between bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth was established through the framework of the endogenous growth model. In addition, the paper employed the bound testing ARDL cointegration procedures to enable us to establish both short-run and long-run relationship between bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth. Granger causality test were also estimated to determine the direction of causality. Findings – The results showed that, in the long run, bank competition is positively related to economic growth while financial innovation is negatively related to economic growth. In the short run, bank competition is negatively related to...

Bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth in Ghana

Purpose




The purpose of this paper is to document and appraise two innovations by which nontraditional forms of collateral are being used to make smallholder crop and livestock farmers bankable in Ghana and Zimbabwe.




Design/methodology/approach




The setup and operations of the warehouse receipt system (WRS) in Ghana were evaluated for the extent to which the WRS was meeting crop farmers’ expectations and the WRS’s own objectives. Owners of the WRS, a certified warehouse operator in a big city, and two operators of certified community warehouses in farming communities were interviewed. Two focus group discussions with crop farmers were also held. Information about the setup and operations of the Tawanda Nyambirai Livestock Trust (TNLT) Private Limited in Zimbabwe (TNLT) and extent of serving the credit needs of livestock farmers was obtained by telephone from the managing director. Data were gathered in April 2014 and were analyzed later.




Findings




Due to low output no smallholder farmer targeted by the WRS had been issued with a tradable certified warehouse receipts to serve as collateral to potential lenders. Grain aggregators (non-farmers) have aggregated enough grains from farmers to be issued warehouse receipts. Grain farmers report substantial reduction in post-harvest losses when they lodge farm proceeds with certified community warehouses. For the TNLT, more than 140 farmers had deposited 700 cattle and had been issued with tradable certificates of deposit within one year of TNLT to obtain revolving credit from one bank. Other benefits and challenges are highlighted.




Originality/value




Both approaches have potential of helping to solve liquidity constraints of farmers.

African innovations in harnessing farmer assets as collateral

The effects of the entry of foreign banks and changes in bank concentration on the technical efficiency of domestic banks in Ghana over the period 2000–2008 is analyzed. Technical efficiency scores were obtained by the Data Envelopment Analysis. Then, the Tobit regression was used to analyze the impact of hypothesized explanatory variables on bank efficiency. Foreign bank share of total industry assets was used to proxy the impact of foreign banks. The findings suggest that efficiency of domestic banks has been positively affected by the entry of foreign banks and reduction in concentration. Thus, the central bank's policy of liberalizing the banking sector appears to be well placed.

Anthony Q.Q. Aboagye

Papers

Explaining interest rate spreads in Ghana

Are Ghanaian MFIs' performance associated with corporate governance?

Bank competition, financial innovations and economic growth in Ghana

African innovations in harnessing farmer assets as collateral

Technical Efficiency of the Ghanaian Banking Industry and the Effects of the Entry of Foreign Banks