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The analytical report discusses the importance of employing settlement in the service of the Zionist project and its patterns in Palestine, specifically the West Bank, and its character of violence, substitution and settlement, in addition to its results in the West Bank and recent trends in settlement plans, and reviews the concept of Jordanian national security, its components and the challenges it faces. The report concluded with the most important effects resulting from settlement policies on Jordanian national security, such as: the threat to Jordanian national security, the continuation of wars in the region, the increased risk of displacing Palestinians to Jordan and imposing settlement there, compromising the Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, and increasing demands to extend to Jordan as a Part of the historic Land of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the expected impact of capital control tools on financial stability. We demonstrate that capital controls lower the probability of a banking crisis (positive effect) and simultaneously reduce economic growth (negative effect). We apply a dynamic panel logit model with fixed effects on a sample of countries composed of emerging and advanced economies for the period 2000–2020. Moreover, we use an impulse response function analysis to assess the net effect of capital controls. The results show that while regulation of capital flows directly stabilizes the economy, it also indirectly destabilizes it by impeding economic growth. Furthermore, we found that the positive impact of lowering the probability of a crisis dominates the adverse effect on economic growth. These impacts are different across the subgroups of emerging market economies and advanced countries. However, in both subgroups the effect of capital controls is independent of capital controls tightening. These results have significant implications for policymakers, who must adjust the capital flows regulatory policy according to economic growth and financial stability objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union (EU) and its member states are the world's largest development donor, but the European financial architecture for development suffers from well-documented problems of fragmentation. EU member states' decision to convene the Wieser Group in April 2019 raised expectations over rationalising the roles of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). However, the Council of the EU showed little enthusiasm for the group's call to create a single entity for external development finance. Twelve months later, member states endorsed Team Europe, an alternative approach which mobilises the resources of the EIB, the EBRD, the European Commission and national development finance institutions in support of shared development goals. This article seeks to explain why the Council ultimately preferred Team Europe's coordinated approach to the Wieser Report's centralised vision of a European Climate and Sustainable Development Bank. In keeping with new intergovernmentalism, we find that member states' willingness to cooperate but reluctance to delegate, and the aim of EU institutions to protect their turf, favoured Team Europe. We see few reasons to expect radical changes in this domain despite continued doubts over the effectiveness and coherence of European development finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank has been called the most influential organization in education reform globally. Not only is it the single largest funder of education for international development, but it also produces knowledge, circulates discourse, and structures policymaking processes in ways that extend its influence far beyond its primary role as a bank. However, while much literature has been produced about the World Bank, the field of education lacks a systematic discussion of what has been reported about how the World Bank influences policy formation at the country level. Through the conduct of a theoretically informed systematic literature review of 70 publications, this article clarifies and provides examples for the numerous ways that the World Bank influences policy formation. In all, the article documents 11 pathways through which the World Bank influences policymaking. The article concludes by suggesting areas where research on the World Bank can be improved, namely, through more explicit attention to the theoretical and methodological approaches employed. The goal of this review is to encourage scholars to be more specific in their conceptualizations and discussions of World Bank influence, to go beyond general claims of policy imposition or agenda shaping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supervision is important for the entire financial system since it plays the role of a stabilizer; it seeks to create a healthy environment for financial institutions, and in particular for banks. Bank supervision is considerably more challenging than that of other institutions because of the opacity and complexity of bank assets. We explore the impact of supervision on the risk, profitability, and growth of Tunisian banks. The empirical study focused on 210 annual reports of almost all Tunisian banks during the 2010–2019 period. Banking supervision effectiveness is measured by enforcement outputs (i.e. on-site audits and sanctions). The generalized least squares method of multivariate analysis was used to analyze our panel data.The results show that supervisory and regulatory measures applied during this period have a negative impact on bank risk and profitability. This means that stricter banking regulation and supervision reduce both the risk and profitability of banks. Our results also show that intense supervision reduces the growth of loans for Tunisian banks. Our results have important implications for the decision-making of bank managers and regulators in Tunisia as well as for relevant actors in similar emerging economies. Strengthening further banking supervision policy is still needed by the central bank of Tunisia, i.e. the bank regulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build a simple model on the role of households' liquidity preference in the determination of economic performance. We postulate, for the sake of the argument, a purely 'horizontalist' environment, i.e., a world of endogenous money where the central bank is able to fix the interest rate(s) at a level of its own willing. We show that even in such a framework liquidity preference, while obviously not constituting anymore a theory for the determination of the interest rate, continues to be a key element for the determination of both the level and evolution over time of aggregate income and capital accumulation. In our model, this happens because of the working of a mechanism so far unexplored in the literature, i.e., the endogenous variations of banks' policy of profits' distribution in response to changes in the liquidity preference of the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the policy implications of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016, which was enacted in India as part of banking sector reforms. The study aims to answer the question: Has the policy helped banks enhance their asset quality, stability, and performance?" To determine the effect of IBC on these research variables, we used a difference-in-difference (DID) regression technique. We collected a sample of 924 bank year observations for three categories of banks -- public, private and foreign ownership banks for the period during 2010 to 2021. We first analysed the ownership-wise impact of IBC on asset quality, stability and performance. Then, we further investigated the policy's implications by dividing banks into unhealthy and healthy categories based on their Z scores. In our findings, bank stability and asset quality for three ownership banks (private, public and foreign banks) is significantly different from each other. For overall sample observations, the relationship between asset quality and banks stability is negative and significant. This suggests that a deterioration in asset quality leads to less change in bank stability, i.e. the result confirms banks' loan evergreening problem during the reform period. The results estimating the impact of IBC on stability of public sector banks was insufficient, except for risk capital. Our findings show that public sector banks have tightened their lending standards in anticipation of potential asset quality deterioration. However, our analysis of the IBC's impact on unhealthy banks' asset quality, stability and performance did not align with the policy's objectives. While the IBC policy in itself is passing through several changes in recent, the study's results can aid policymakers in better assessing the impact of banking policies in India and can be used a reference for future policy formulation. A few related areas where the study results will aid to help are insolvency resolution, developing liquidation and cross-board insolvency framework. This paper is the first effort to estimate the impact of IBC separately on asset quality, bank stability, and performance of banks in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the present study is to investigate the international spillover effect of US monetary policies on bank lending for 34 upper-middle-income countries during the period of 2000-2021. For this purpose, Panel Smooth Transition Regression model (PSTR) method has been used to estimate the model of this research. Based on the estimation results, the model includes two regimes and its transition variable is the monetary policy rate of the United States, which is not significant in the first regime and is negative and significant in the second regime. So, with the reduction of interest rates and the implementation of expansionary monetary policies in the United States, the lending rate in the studied countries increases; and vice versa. Based on the results obtained and the lack of independence of monetary policies in the studied countries, it is recommended that the countries make their internal economic conditions more stable than the external conditions with targeted policies and somehow secure their economy against external shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of asset quality in impacting bank lending has been examined in several studies. What has however not been examined is how asset quality interacts with monetary policy to influence bank lending or what is popularly referred to as the asset quality channel of monetary transmission. Employing data during 2011–2020, we examine whether there exists an asset quality channel of monetary transmission for MENA country-banks. The findings provide strong support in favour of an asset quality channel of monetary transmission. In particular, the baseline results suggest that a one percentage point increase in the impairment ratio leads to a decline in bank lending by 11%. These findings differ across key bank characteristics such as profitability, capital and funding costs for conventional versus Islamic banks. Relatedly, macroprudential policies play an important role in arresting asset quality deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing industry is one of the major threats to global environment and resource depletion. Particularly in China, it is regarded as a major challenge due to massive population growth. The most common barriers involve; economic barriers and environmental barriers. Therefore, to promote sustainable housing development, the management of these barriers is most crucial. This study is an attempt to overcome these barriers with the help of financial institutions in the context of China. The sample of the study are construction sector employees which are selected through simple random sampling method. Partial Least Square (PLS) is employed as statistical tool to analyze the primary data. Results revealed the positive role of financial institutions to overcome the challenges related to the economic barriers and environmental barriers. Financing from banks for the sustainable housing schemes can reduce the economic barriers and help to fulfil the sustainable housing criteria. Similarly, the environment requirements can also be achieved through environmental policy developed by the banks in China. This study recommended the Chinese government to promote sustainable hosing development through the promotion of bank financing and implementation of banks environmental policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between monetary policy and bank risk-taking by introducing a model wherein banks expend a level of costly monitoring effort to select low-risk projects, thereby reducing the risk associated with the loans they grant. The impact of monetary policy on bank risk-taking is examined through both theoretical models and empirical analysis. The paper compares theoretical models with different assumptions, revealing an unambiguous negative effect without the assumption of limited liability for banks, and an ambiguous effect with the assumption of limited liability for banks, influenced by the equity ratio. The empirical model employs unique quarterly data comprising balance sheet information for top-listed banks in the U.S. banking system from 2000 to 2017. The findings indicate that low-interest rates contribute to an increase in bank risk-taking. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced after the financial crisis and weaker before the crisis. Additionally, the impact is evident for undercapitalized banks and more substantial for those financed with a higher proportion of equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the global financial crisis burst in 2008, central bankers have been at centre stage in addressing its negative consequences across the economic systems of many countries. This has been further noticed in the aftermath of the pandemic crisis that erupted at the beginning of 2020 at global level, when a number of governments did intervene also in a rather 'unconventional' way to support economic activity through public spending. In both circumstances, central bankers have been in a position to satisfy private interests of the relevant stakeholders even though this has been affecting both income and wealth distribution against the common good. This paper investigates the political benefits that these 'unconventional' policy interventions have elicited in advanced economies to point out the political and distributional consequences of them, suggesting an alternative monetary policy stance that considers climate-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customers churn is an important issue that is always concerned by banks, and is put at the forefront of the bank's policies. The fact that banks can identify customers who are intending to leave the service can help banks promptly make policies to retain customers. In this paper, we propose a combined deep learning network models to predict customers leaving or staying at the bank. The proposed model consists of two levels, Level 0 consists of three basic models using three Deep Learning Neural Networks, and Level 1 is a logistic regression model. The proposed model has obtained evaluation results with accuracy metrics of 96.60%, precision metrics of 90.26%, recall metrics of 91.91% and F1 score of 91.07% on the dataset "Bank Customer Churn Prediction". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of macroprudential policies on the nexus between economic uncertainty and bank risk in emerging Asian economies. We construct our index of economic uncertainty by applying the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH)-in-mean model to a series of important macroeconomic variables, and borrow macroprudential policy indices from Cerutti et al. (2017) and Alam et al. (2019). Using bank-level panel data from approximately 600 commercial banks in 11 emerging Asian economies during the period 2000–2016, we find consistent evidence that bank risk increases with economic uncertainty, while macroprudential measures play an ameliorative role in uncertainty-induced bank risk. Our baseline findings are largely driven by macroprudential measures that aim to dampen the credit cycle more than those that target increasing the resilience of the banking sector. Our further analyses of the heterogeneous impacts of macroprudential measures by specific type on the risk of banks show that liquidity-based instruments, reserve requirements and currency instruments play a more conspicuous role in the economic uncertainty‒bank risk nexus than capital-based and asset-side macroprudential instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to test whether banks can recognize different signals from different types of government grants received by their clients and respond differently. Using a novel panel data set from China, we construct a three-way fixed-effect regression model and empirically explore the effect of government grants received by banks' clients on banks' lending decisions. We find that banks have heterogeneous attitudes towards their clients when the clients receive different types of government grants. In particular, we discover that banks behave positively toward clients who receive "development supportive" grants but negatively toward clients who receive "helping hand" grants. The main results hold after a series of robustness tests. Our study offers fresh perceptions on how banks see government grants of their clients while making lending choices. Our finds will offer certain inspirations for government grant policies and bank lending decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 1994, in South Africa many people saw the declaration of the previously side-lined indigenous languages as official languages as a move towards respecting and promoting indigenous languages. The main objective of this study is to assess the use of isiZulu in banking services in Durban, KwaZulu- Natal. The focus was on whether isiZulu is used as a language of communication in the banking service and to check whether consumers receive documents in the language they prefer, particularly in isiZulu. The qualitativeresearch approach was used, and the study followed a case study design. Semi- structured interviews were used to collect data, and a wealth of data was generated by thick descriptions of participant responses. The data from semi- structured interviews were recorded and decoded into categories, and the categories were reduced to thematic constructs. Twelve purposively selected participants were involved in the study. The findings revealed that even though isiZulu was incorporated into the banks’ policies as a language that which was supposed to be used, this was not practiced since English was predominantly used, at the expense of isiZulu. The findings further revealed that English was the only language used even in customer documents such as letters and pamphlets, and isiZulu was used mainly for oral communication. The findings also revealed that there was a lack of terminology in the isiZulu language for certain English words. It was recommended that translators be needed to assist with the communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research paper is to examine the impact of monetary policy conditions on bank risk-taking in the Western Balkan countries. The paper tries to identify if monetary policy conditions, especially money interest rates, may induce a greater appetite for bank risk-taking in the Western Balkan countries. The impact of macroeconomic and banking indicators on bank risk-taking will be examined, too. For this purpose, we apply pooled OLS techniques, Fixed and Random effects panel, and Hausman-Taylor Instrumental IV model. The econometric results show a negative correlation between the monetary policy rate and bank risk-taking, rejecting the hypothesis that monetary policy rates indicate bank risk increase. However, expansive credit policies or loan portfolio growth have a positive impact on bank risk-taking in the Western Balkans. The study is original, and its findings will be of value to Central Banks and other policymakers in the Western Balkan countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a response to the COVID-19 shock, the Uruguayan government expanded an existing public credit guarantee and introduced deductions in local currency reserve requirements. Policies of the same nature were also implemented by several governments throughout the world. This paper contributes to the financial additionality literature and the literature on the bank lending view of the monetary policy by analyzing the impact of this type of policies on loans' interest rate spread over the interbank rate. Using a very detailed database on loan contracts, we estimate a dynamic panel model to analyze the effects of policy responses to the COVID-19 shock over loan interest rates. We find that the PCG policy had a relatively higher effect on loans' interest rates in comparison to the reserve requirements policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3-6 percent inflation target is a policy rule used by the South African Reserve Bank (sarb) to fulfil its statutory obligation of ensuring a low and stable inflation environment and its policy reaction function assesses how the Reserve Bank responds to deviations of inflation fromits target. We rely on nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (nardl) models to estimate the asymmetric preferences which the Reserve Bank has to inflation deviations during rising and falling episodes of inflation. Using quarterly data spanning from 2002:q1 to 2021:q4, we estimate the policy reaction functions using 7 disaggregated measures of inflation to capture the heterogeneity in the formation of price expectations. We further segregate our data into two sub-periods, corresponding to the pre-crisis and post-crisis era, as a robustness exercise. Overall, our findings indicate that in the postcrisis era the sarb (i) has become more responsive to inflation, output fluctuations and exchange rates and (ii) has responded more aggressively to rising inflation than falling inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Common Framework is the internationally agreed process for coordinating the restructuring of the debt of low‐income countries. To date, this process, which was established by the G20 in late 2020 during the COVID‐19 pandemic, has failed to provide an efficient path toward agreement with new bilateral creditors (such as China), market creditors and the traditional bilateral creditors. An analysis of the key country cases demonstrates how tensions between different creditors have complicated the application of the Common Framework and delayed agreement on new financial terms. The Common Framework was built on a case‐by‐case judgement of the scale of debt relief needed. It has become a case‐by‐case negotiation on the format for carrying out a restructuring, as well as the terms of the restructuring. China's participation in official creditor committees, the clear innovation in the Common Framework, has proved to be a source of delay rather than a mechanism for creating consensus. Almost three years after the initial agreement on the Common Framework, there still is no model for an internationally coordinated restructuring that both delivers significant debt relief and includes the Chinese policy banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing size of financial assets and the complexity of monetary patterns, countries around the world are gradually becoming more transparent in their monetary policies, using central bank monetary policy communication as a new type of monetary policy instrument. To measure central bank communication more accurately, this paper proposes a dynamic topic model, LDA-BP, based on branching processes, to construct the central bank communication index. At the same time, this paper does four things: it uses the constructed communication index as a proxy variable for the new monetary policy instrument; it builds a TVP-FAVAR model that can extract potential macroeconomic information from many variables, and its time-varying nature can better reflect the dynamic regulatory effect of monetary policy; it constructs a three-dimensional impulse response diagram; and it conducts a systematic analysis of macroeconomic impact. The experimental results of demonstrate its effectiveness on central bank monetary policy communication, as it captures timely information about conventional monetary policy instruments and immediately responds to changes in interest rates and money supply. All three monetary policy instruments are effective in smoothing output volatility, with monetary policy communication having a longer-term impact on the macroeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main function of the internal control department of a bank is to inspect the banking operations to see if they are performed in accordance with the regulations and bank policies. To accomplish this, they pick up a number of operations that are selected randomly or by some rule and, inspect those operations according to some predetermined check lists. If they find any discrepancies where the number of such discrepancies are in the magnitude of several hundreds, they inform the corresponding department (usually bank branches) and ask them for a correction (if it can be done) or an explanation. In this study, we take up a real-life project carried out under our supervisory where the aim was to develop a set of predictive models that would highlight which operations of the credit department are more likely to bear some problems. This multi-classification problem was very challenging since the number of classes were enormous and some class values were observed only a few times. After providing a detailed description of the problem we attacked, we describe the detailed discussions which in the end made us to develop six different models. For the modeling, we used the logistic regression algorithm as it was preferred by our partner bank. We show that these models have Gini values of 51 per cent on the average which is quite satisfactory as compared to sector practices. We also show that the average lift of the models is 3.32 if the inspectors were to inspect as many credits as the number of actual problematic credits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past several years, central banks globally have begun to consider whether, and to what extent, questions of climate change and sustainability intersect with their statutory mandates. The issues are not straightforward nor is there a one-size-fits-all approach. A range of important questions thus remain unanswered. To what extent can central banks pursue climate change and sustainability goals within their legislative authorities and thus retain legal legitimacy around these actions? Where legal authority exists, how can central banks operationalize climate or sustainability goals—are existing tools fit for purpose or are new ones required? What is the best distribution of tasks between political authorities and depoliticized agencies with narrower mandates? Inasmuch as public discourse and debate have thrown up these thorny questions, the next several years will require policy and academic conversation to explore them. To that end, this Article develops a set of principles for central banks to consider when addressing these climate policy governance questions, in particular with regard to the limits and legitimacy of sustainable central banking. It does so by examining the legal frameworks governing, and unfolding climate initiatives in, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the U.K. Bank of England, and the European Central Bank. * [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate change has been a public policy issue for decades, central banks have only recently considered it relevant to their objectives. Beginning in 2015, the Bank of England (BoE) was among the first movers to do so. This article illustrates how two institutional features were key in enabling this response. First, the macroprudential framework that developed in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) has provided the key ideas that central bankers have used to understand climate change in relation to their objectives. Additionally, government support for BoE action on climate change was also essential in empowering the BoE by setting a transition pathway and providing political legitimacy. The result has been BoE policies that not only seek to limit climate-related risks but also actively shift credit toward greener enterprises. However, this article argues that this has not amounted to a green paradigm shift in the BoE's institutional role, but is better understood as a thermostatic mode of policy innovation. While the BoE's hierarchy of goals have not changed, the types of policy problems relevant to those goals has shifted substantially. Finally, this article offers reflections on the scope and durability of the BoE's approach to climate change in this context. This article contributes to the literature on central banking and climate change beyond the BoE by providing a framework for understanding the possibilities and limitations of current central bank approaches to climate change. Financial policymakers face uncertainty about which policies lie within the bounds of their institutional roles and norms as the causes of climate change become increasingly relevant for them to address. Central banks can function as 'thermostats', with relevant policy problems and instrument types changing substantially in order to maintain enduring goals like price and financial stability. While the scope of this type of response is potentially broad, the durability of policy action will be limited in the presence of other events in the economic environment. Governments should be explicit in setting low-carbon transition pathways for central banks to align with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of an inflationary surge due to war, sanctions and pandemic disruptions, the article argues against dogmatic responses to inflation. Using extant theoretical and empirical literature as well as time-series data, it examines the scope for 'moderate inflation rates', above what is currently targeted. Specifically, it seeks to ascertain the potential developmental gains from moderate inflation (say, 10–15%), the risk of inflation accelerating to harm growth, and the implications of central bank independence during the recent inflation episode and for supporting sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that policy-makers' non-expert or 'folk' ideas can affect policy outcomes in a way that challenges the assumption of economic policy-making being guided by expert ideas emanating from the realm of economics and other sciences. To substantiate this argument, the article invokes literatures on audience costs as well as on economic folk theories to highlight the power of analogies and fallacies in the formulation of policy. While political economists have focused exclusively on the power of the 'household analogy' in the area of fiscal policy, much less is known about its monetary policy equivalent, which the article introduces as the 'bank analogy'. Empirically, the analogy is assessed in the context of what is arguably a least likely case for the power of folk ideas to hold: the European Central Bank's governance of its balance sheet, the most powerful balance sheet in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the response of monetary policy to financial instability in the West African Economic and Monetary Union. Design/methodology/approach: Through annual aggregated data from 1970 to 2019, the empirical strategy is based on the Markov regime-switching model with fixed probabilities. Findings: The results revealed that the monetary policy of the central bank of the West African Economic and Monetary Union is characterized by two regimes (calm and distress) with respect to the trend of financial stability. The authors also found that the occurrence of the calm regime was likely greater than that of the distress regime. In addition, the calm regime is longer than the distress regime. The authors finally revealed that the central bank reacts to financial instability risk by increasing its short-term interest rate when financial instability reaches a threshold. Research limitations/implications: The limitation of this study is the unavailability of monthly or quarterly data that are more suitable for the methodological approach adopted. Originality/value: This study is the one to estimate the response of the Central Bank of West African Countries to financial stress using a novel approach based on the Markov-Switching regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the chronological impact of South African Reserve Bank (SARB) repo rate announcements on the Financial Times Stock Exchange/Johannesburg Securities Exchange (FTSE/JSE) All Share Index (ALSI) returns and returns volatility. Covering the period 2012–2021, the study employs the 'event study' approach, a risk augmented generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH-in-mean) model, and high-frequency intra-day 1-minute stock quotes during narrow windows to avert (or minimise) data contamination problems – endogeneity bias and coinciding effects of other exogenous variables on the stock market around the repo rate announcement time. In line with a priori expectations, there is an inverse relationship between stock returns and repo rate surprises (or unexpected repo rate changes). And consistent with findings in developed economies, our econometric results show that the reaction of the South African (SA) stock market to repo rate surprises is swift, indicating a high degree of 'mechanical efficiency' in respect to central bank policy rate surprises. But the delayed returns volatility response mirrors that of findings in the scant empirical literature on emerging markets. Evidence of both time-varying risk-return and time-varying degree of 'informational efficiency' is consistent with the adaptive market hypothesis (AMH). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What happens when influential international organizations change their beliefs about policy? Do they effectively transfer their learning? This paper answers these questions through a comparative historical analysis of the influence of the World Bank on secondary education policy in Colombia. Although the World Bank radically changed its ideas about secondary education and actively disseminated them in Colombia by reshaping its lending priorities and technical assistance, domestic increasing returns of previous foreign recommendations prevented the adoption of new World Bank's lessons. This study shows that the influence of international organizations is substantially shaped by domestic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates specific challenges of Covid for balancing economic growth and financial stability as they apply to paradigms, programmes and policies of bank regulation and supervision at the European Commission and European Central Bank. It finds that dominant paradigms of risk reduction and control remained intact, despite a temporary programme of regulatory relaxation to spur credit growth. The ECB and the Commission were united on state aid, regulatory loosening and promoting credit creation. However, while the Commission sought credit for businesses, much of the credit went into the European housing sector, with ECB support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the main features of the restructuring of the Spanish banking system after the 2008 crisis. The Bank of Spain -the enforcement arm of the European Central Bank's policy- and successive governments accentuated the oligopolistic nature of Spanish banking, as their measures contributed to limit internal competition (eliminating savings banks) and to socialize the costs of the bank bailout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw upon the broader theoretical framework of rent‐seeking to empirically analyze the impact of corruption on the efficiency of the banking industry in the Gulf Cooperation Council. We have used various databases, including Bankscope, World Bank, and Transparency International, to gather Bank‐specific and macro‐economic data for 77 banks covering the period 2005–2014. We perform ordinary least square (OLS) and generalised methods of moments regression (GMM) using a balanced panel and find (1) Islamic banks as less efficient and stable as compared to conventional banks in the GCC region, (2) corruption has a negative (positive) impact on Islamic (conventional) banks' stability. Our findings provide support for the 'sand the wheel' hypothesis of corruption for Islamic banks. This finding supports the view that under the current weak governance structures and complex policy framework, corruption acts as an 'escape hatch' for conventional banks. Our empirical findings could pave the way for further policy reform for the banking sector in the GCC region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do Chinese firms assess investment risk? I argue that major Chinese firms tend to invest in countries whose leaders they perceive as strong. However, their perception of a host country leader's strength arises from a range of subjective and relational factors, including their party school socialization, Chinese state's preferences for strong leaders, efforts by the host country regime to 'sell' the image of a strong leader, and information brokerage by Chinese think tanks. Thus, the path taken by Chinese firms cannot be fully explained by 'objective' measurable indicators such as policy bank financing or natural endowments; social relationships and norms are crucial too. There are also unintended consequences of investing in countries where they consider leaders to be strong. If the leader turns out to be weak, this ultimately increases the likelihood of cancellation of ongoing major Chinese projects. In contrast, if the leader is indeed strong, this strategy could result in pushback, leaving Chinese firms vulnerable to the leader's whim to act against Chinese interests. To illustrate, I draw on elite interviews, contrasting Chinese investment in the Philippines under Arroyo (2001–2010) and Duterte (2016-), Malaysia under Najib (2009–2018), and Indonesia under Jokowi (2014-). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide a new method to model changes in monetary policy of the Bank of England (BoE) as well as the impact of these changes on UK economy. This is important as central bankers have widened the range of instruments in their monetary policy toolbox. Specifically, we estimate a proxy for the monetary policy stance and then analyse a time-varying parameter vector autoregressive with stochastic volatility model to explain the BoE's trade-offs when making policy decisions and as well as to demonstrate dynamic impacts of monetary policy on inflation and economic growth. The empirical results show that our estimated monetary policy proxy is better at capturing the BoE's policy when the interest rate lower bound becomes binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a trouble and deeply affected the economic conditions of countries. Economy administrators and particularly central banks have been tested seriously in this period. In this period, one of the essential tasks of central banks is to provide the need of liquidity of markets. However, the main objective of Central Banks is price stability. Monetary policies should be applied sensitively by central banks, especially in crisis periods. While liquidity needs of markets taking place, central banks intervene and effort to support declining liquidity. This study examined central banks' monetary policies in the fragile five countries (Turkey, Brasil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa). We investigated these countries' central bank policies, including interest rate, inflation, central bank reserve, exchange rate, and fragile states index in the pandemic period. We determined that the most fragile country among the five countries is Turkey according to the fragile states index, inflation, interest rate, and central bank reserve in the pandemic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What shapes social-environmental regulations in the World Bank? To date, scholars have emphasized the influence of nongovernmental organization activism, donor power, and various elements of the Bank's internal culture and incentive system. This article documents a new and important source of influence: outside financing options for borrower countries. I demonstrate this influence through an in-depth study of the World Bank's Safeguards Review and Update, a four-year policy-making process that concluded in 2016. As alternative sources of finance carrying less stringent safeguard requirements than those of the World Bank proliferated in years preceding the Safeguards Review, borrowers gained negotiating power over Bank policy, enabling them to successfully push for more regulatory autonomy. These findings suggest that understanding the future of social-environmental standards in development finance institutions will require greater attention to new sources of finance and the power shifts they may entail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three major international texts adopted in 2015 -Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris Climate Agreement-place national public policies and actors at the heart of international development cooperation (IDC). By bringing IDC closer to national institutions, particularly development banks, and taking it further away from traditional foreign policy, this shift has challenged longheld IDC narratives and structures, both among developed and developing countries. It has also laid the foundations for a degree of structured and universal accountability within the international development cooperation system, setting the stage for a wider shift within global governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that financial inclusion policy in Pakistan has been subsumed by the regulatory needs of the central bank, opening a divide between the 'development approach' of donors and the 'regulatory approach' of the central bank. This shift is identified in an emerging macro turn in central bank discourse and policy, which is steering the National Financial Inclusion Strategy away from the person-centred donor-driven agenda towards the imperative of shoring up rupee governance amidst burgeoning informal markets, low levels of bank intermediation and high levels of currency-in-circulation. The article argues that this rerouting of financial inclusion policy is ultimately a consequence of the central bank's failure to grasp effective policy control over the rupee following rapid economic liberalization in the 1990s. The article explores why growing informality in money and markets is a problem for monetary governance; how financial inclusion answers to this predicament; and why the shift from poverty alleviation to monetary control remains unforeseen by donors. The article shows why inflation targeting – itself core to the wider liberalization project – hinges on the success of financial inclusion, thus revealing an important new driver propelling the financial inclusion agenda forward amidst implicit and unforeseen conflict between donors and the national leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information entropy can be utilized to assess the complexity of the Banking System and the uncertainty of association information between banks. Based on information entropy and the balance sheet data of 167 banks from 2011 to 2020, we proposed a centrality indicator based on Adjacency Information Entropy, then applied it to directed weighted and directed unweighted interbank networks to identify banks with systemically important status, and compared the results with those of traditional centrality indicators. The outcomes show that the results of centrality indicator based on Adjacency Information Entropy are more accurate than those of traditional centrality indicators in identifying banks with systemically important status in interbank networks. Six large state-owned commercial banks, nine joint-stock commercial banks, two policy banks, and two urban commercial banks with large assets are identified as systemically important banks based on the proposed centrality indicator, which is highly consistent with the list of systemically important banks published by the Chinese banking regulator. Among the systemically important banks, changes in systemic risk levels of joint-stock commercial banks and urban commercial banks are more susceptible to national policies than those of large state-owned commercial banks. The findings of this paper have certain reference significance for strengthening the supervision of banks with systemically important status in interbank networks and formulating targeted policies for regulating large commercial banks and small- and medium-sized commercial banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government officials in China have taken different views regarding shadow banking. Some have seen the industry as overly risky, potentially undermining the formal financial system, while others have asserted that it is an increasingly important part of the financial system, filling a gap in finance provision to particular sectors and smaller firms. Do their views matter? Regulators have striven to crack down on the riskiest practices in shadow banking, but are the policies effective? In this article, we analyze the impact of government attitudes and actions on the shadow banking sector. Using a unique data set based on information collected from various sources in a difference-in-difference model, we find that shadow banking regulation plays a strong role in China's financial sector, while contradictory government views (in the form of commentary in the People's Daily) on shadow banking do not. This reveals that shadow banking is strongly affected by political authority when it is codified into regulation. Only some aspects of shadow banking can be legitimized through regulation, while the remainder of China's financial system remains constrained due to state dominance over the financial sector. This underscores the "funny" nature of shadow banking's money flows. This article is one of the first to study the effects of government views and regulations on the shadow banking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a set of Chinese economic data and a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model, this paper investigates the transmission channels of fiscal policy to bank credit in China. We find that increases in tax revenue can increase bank credit through external financing premium channel, collateral channel, and bank liquidity channel. We also find that increases in government spending can reduce bank credit through bank liquidity channel and increase bank credit through external financing premium channel and collateral channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate conventional and unconventional monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB). • Exogenous shocks are extracted from high-frequency changes in financial markets around policy announcements. • We use a smooth-transition vector autoregression with uncertainty as signal variable. • Monetary transmission channels are impaired by uncertainty via affecting direct and indirect channels on financial markets and expectations. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of conventional and unconventional monetary policy measures by the European Central Bank (ECB) conditional on the prevailing level of uncertainty. To obtain exogenous variation in central bank policy, we rely on high-frequency surprises in financial market data for the euro area (EA) around policy announcement dates. We trace the dynamic effects of shocks to the short-term policy rate, forward guidance and quantitative easing on several key macroeconomic and financial quantities alongside survey-based measures of expectations. For this purpose, we propose a Bayesian smooth-transition vector autoregression (ST-VAR), using a measure of economic policy uncertainty as signal variable. Our results suggest that transmission channels are impaired when uncertainty is elevated. While conventional monetary policy and forward guidance can be less effective during such periods, quantitative easing measures seem to work comparatively well in uncertain times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare the New Keynesian and Austrian explanations for low interest rates in the light of the Corona crisis. From a New Keynesian perspective low interest rates are the result of structural changes in the society and the economy as well as the cyclical downswing triggered by the Corona pandemic. In contrast, from the perspective of Austrian economic theory, interest rates have been pushed down on trend by central banks for a long time to stimulate growth, with the global financial crisis of 2007/08 and the Corona crisis of 2020 acting as powerful accelerators of the euthanasia of interest. New Keynesian theory would suggest that interest rates can be adjusted upward again when conditions change, without creating economic and financial disturbances. Against this, Austrian theory finds that central banks have backed themselves into a corner by creating persistent low-interest expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How is the rise of China affecting international governance? This paper examines the domain of infrastructure finance by focusing on China's two policy banks, which are the main creditors of China's overseas infrastructure projects. While the incumbent international credit regimes led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) distinguish development-oriented aid from commercially oriented export credits, emerging late-developed economies blur this dichotomy by largely funding development projects with state-backed export credits. The way China alters the OECD's credit governance, this paper argues, demonstrates both the generality of late development and the peculiarity of "Chinese" development. Rather than directly subsidizing firms' international business with the state's fiscal revenue, policy banks financialized host country's state-owned and state-coordinated assets using various market instruments. By doing so, they gave Chinese firms a comparative advantage in the markets of less developed regions, allowing them to undertake projects that firms from advanced industrial countries cannot. This financing mechanism has reshaped the international development regime by transforming the dominant means of credit allocation from state-led aid-giving to market-based exchange, and rewritten the liberal rules of the international export credit regime by financing the developing world in a both statist and liberalist manner. As a result, China has built a paralleled regime in regions insufficiently covered by the existing financial schemes of incumbent credit regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reallocation is often promoted as a response to water security dilemmas in the western United States. Water banking is a form of reallocation utilized in several states to facilitate temporary water rights transfers. This article frames and examines water banking's potential influences on water security from a hydro‐social perspective through a case analysis of water banking policy in Utah. It analyzes the challenges of integrating the market‐based economic incentives of water banks with the legal precedents of the prior appropriation doctrine to reallocate water in overappropriated basins with hydrologically interdependent uses. Key‐informant interviews and focus groups were used to examine water security's meaning to stakeholders and analyze how water banking could affect the water security of disparate users and uses at multiple scales. Stakeholders predominately saw water security as assurance in water quantity, but water security was further equated by participants with the legal protections afforded by water rights. Multiple complexities in water bank implementation are to be expected when multiscalar contexts are considered, including societal and hydrologic tradeoffs in settings with diverse and interconnected interests. Our research shows that examining the potential ramifications of water banking policy through stakeholder perspectives can reveal nuanced insights on individual and collective water security issues not only within Utah but other arid regions in general. Research Impact Statement: Hydro‐social investigation of the potential water security impacts and tradeoffs of reallocation through water banking in an arid region of a highly industrialized country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how banking competition and capital level impact on the risk-taking behavior of banking institutions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The topic is perceived to be of significant importance during the COVID-19 pandemic. We use data for more than 225 banks in 18 countries in the MENA region to test whether increased competition causes banks to hold higher capital ratios. Employing panel data techniques, and distinguishing between Islamic and conventional banks, we show that banks tend to hold higher capital ratios when operating in a more competitive environment. We also provide evidence that banks in the MENA region increase their capitalization levels in response to a higher risk and vice versa. Further, banking concentration (measured by the HH-index) and credit risk have a significant and positive impact on capital ratios of IBs, whereas competition does play a restrictive role in determining the level of their capital. The results hold when controlling for ownership structure, regulatory and institutional environment, bank-specific and macroeconomic characteristics. Our findings inform regulatory authorities concerned with improving the financial stability of banking sector in the MENA region to strengthen their policies in order to force banks to better align with capital requirements and risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the crisis and, inter alia, to restore economic growth, some central banks have applied a non-standard monetary policy. In the case of the Czech Republic, this was in the form of foreign exchange interventions to support exports. Export is divided into sub-parts, which are examined by mainly using regression analysis in terms of changes in central bank indicators. The results show that foreign exchange interventions indeed had a positive impact on total exports, though considerably asymmetric. The standard instrument of the central bank, the Policy Interest Rate, has a much more significant impact on the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The credit convenience through loan installment made it easier for the society to own an unmovable property. However, the emerging issue of the matter is it also contributes to loads of frozen assets. The concept of hibah is being applied as introductory step in planning assets so it can continuously be benefitted. However, the policy practiced by the banks is still not allowing any charged property to be transferred through hibah besides the property as it also does not fully belong to the buyer. This research analyzes the implementation of hibah for charged property according to fuqaha's view and observe the product implementation in Malaysia Law. This research is conducted by qualitative method using document analysis as the design of the research. The findings indicated that hibah of charged property is valid according to some of the fuqaha's view with a few conditions. The differences in the verdicts of courts in Syariah Courts about the hibah cases however confirmed that hibah is being accepted in institutions. Few challenges and weaknesses have to be overcome to implement the product so that it can not be challenged by any party. The solution between hibah document provider and the loan provider has to be quickly executed in order for a guaranteed implementation of the product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a DSGE model with cash deposits and digital currencies to study the economic stability of two potential central banking policies in China, a Loan Prime Rate (LPR) policy function and central bank digital currency (CBDC) implementation. We Bayesian-estimate both a benchmark model and a "Post-CBDC world". In the post-CBDC world, although the introduction of CBDC appears to deepen the procyclicality of macroeconomic variables to real shocks, a potential LPR-setting policy appears to have some degree of policy complementarity with CBDC to mitigate this. We also uncover an optimal policy combination of the LPR rule and Taylor-style CBDC rule. • A DSGE policy experiment between current versus post-CBDC world in China. • Macroeconomy displays a greater procyclicality to shocks in the post-CBDC world. • A potential LPR-setting policy improves stabilization in the post-CBDC world. • An optimal LPR policy function should target more on housing and capital markets. • An optimal LPR policy function should also target more on the growth in CBDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]