The Unassuming Economist

From a paper by Roman Horvath, Eva Horvatova, Maria Siranova:

“We examine the determinants of financial development using our global sample and employing different measures of financial development that assess the degree of depth and efficiency of financial intermediaries. We use instrumental variable Bayesian model averaging to test competing theories with this unifying framework. After examining nearly 20 potential determinants of financial development, we find that the rule of law, as well as some of its components, is the most important. In addition, our results suggest that wealth inequality is irrelevant to banking sector development but positively associated with stock market development.”

From a paper by Roberta Capello, Simona Ciappei and Camilla Lenzi:

“Despite the numerous contributions assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of Cohesion Policies, their role in stimulating growth and cohesion in different macroeconomic settings and in different business cycle periods remains highly debated. This article aims at contributing to this literature by investigating the link between Cohesion Policy, economic growth and interregional inequalities over periods of crisis and recovery. In particular, the article analyses whether Cohesion Policy is beneficial for the recovery of those regions mostly hit by the crisis and contributes to narrowing interregional gaps enhanced by the crisis. In addition, the paper analyses how the link between Cohesion Policy and interregional inequalities changes by investment axes, as it is the case of Research, Technology Development and Innovation funds, targeted to different goals. Based on an analysis covering all EU27 and UK NUTS2 regions in the period 2008–2019, the article confirms the multifaceted nexus between Cohesion Policy and interregional inequalities. It also raises warnings about the potential conflicts between its overarching goals and its multiple and expanding strategic objectives.”

From a paper by Seda Ekmen Özçelik, Erdal Özmen, and Fatma Taşdemir:

“We investigate the pattern and determinants of premature deindustrialisation (PD) for a large panel of advanced, emerging and developing economies. We consider the impacts of international financial integration (de facto financial globalisation), capital account openness (de jure financial globalisation) and financialisation which are often neglected by the literature along with the conventional determinants of industrialisation. The recent literature often employs conventional fixed-effects panel data estimation procedures to estimate and test the postulated inverted-U relationship between manufacturing value-added share in GDP and real income. We employ non-parametric kernel regression to identify the pattern between these variables. In addition, this study analyses the determinants of industrialisation not only by employing the generalised method of moments procedure but also the recent methods allowing to estimate endogenous thresholds. In this context, we also examine whether income and globalisation provide endogenous thresholds for the effect of income on the processes of industrialisation and PD for our samples.”

From ASEAN Secretariat:

“Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, participated in the APEC Ministerial Meeting 2024, held in Lima, Peru on 14 November 2024. In his intervention, Dr. Kao underlined the importance of innovation and digitalisation to promote the transition to the formal economy, as well as sustainable growth for resilient development. He highlighted regional initiatives such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and APEC’s Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific agenda as platforms for inclusive and interconnected economic growth.

The ASEAN Secretariat is one of the official observers of APEC, along with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The ASEAN Secretariat has participated as an official observer for APEC since the first APEC Ministerial Meeting convened in Canberra, Australia, on 6-7 November 1989.”

From CNBC Africa:

“African resource-intensive countries need deep reforms and face an urgent need to diversify away from the resource sector for more durable and inclusive growth. That’s according to the IMF Sub-Saharan regional economic outlook, which highlights the need to ensure that their current macroeconomic policy mix is appropriate, while removing any key policy distortions that may be holding back business confidence and investment. The Bretton Woods institution also notes by 2030, half of the world’s new workers will be from sub-Saharan Africa. Catherine Pattillo, Deputy Director, African Division at the IMF joins CNBC Africa for more.”