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Several research studies in finance have investigated the effect of financial factors on investment decisions of firms. More recently, researchers have extended conventional models of firm-investment by incorporating a role for financing constraints in determining the firm's investment decision. Empirical work points to overwhelming evidence that in the presence of market imperfections, firm investments become sensitive to the availability of internal cash flows. However, the evidence regarding the patterns of these observed investment-cash flow sensitivities has been ambiguous. In this study we examine the impact of financial development on the sensitivity of firm-level investment to internal cash flow. Using international data from 31 countries over the 1987-1997 period, we find that after controlling for growth opportunities (as measured by Tobin's Q), investment is more sensitive to cash flow for firms in less financially developed countries, indicating higher costs of information problems and lower availability of external capital in such countries. The results are robust to six different measures of financial development. We also find a strong negative relationship between investment cash-flow sensitivity and size (as measured by log of total assets) across countries, though our results are mixed when we investigate this size effect within 6 OECD countries. Overall, these findings are consistent with the notion that smaller firms face greater information costs and are therefore more dependent on internally generated capital for making their investment outlays. Furthermore, we establish a direct connection between the investment cash flow sensitivity studies and a parallel literature on the allocational efficiency of capital markets. We also document important distortionary impacts of using log specifications in the empirical estimation, and of including negative cash flow observations in the sample, which explain the qualitative difference between our results and those of some earlier studies. Finally, our results have important policy implications. Firms that are based in countries with poor standards of financial accounting and information disclosure are found to face greater challenges in accessing external capital markets. These firms are likely to experience high under-investment costs that, at a macro level, would translate into slower economic growth for the country. / Ph. D.

Abstracts in English, Afrikaans and Zulu / This study attempts to analyse the key FDI determinants in African countries using annual data for the period from 2003 to 2015. It firstly, gives the introduction and the background of FDI. Secondly, it provides both theoretical and empirical literature review on the key FDI determinants. Based on the literature review, the pre-estimation diagnostics (correlation analysis, descriptive statistics and mean and overall mean analysis), panel root tests, panel co-integration tests, main data analysis (fixed effects, random effects, pooled OLS, fully modified OLS and dynamic GMM) and robustness tests using the lagged variable approach were conducted to analyse the key FDI variables. Main data analysis indicated that the lag of FDI had a significant positive impact on FDI. The empirical results revealed that human capital development, infrastructure, growth rate, trade openness, natural resources, financial development, unemployment, exchange rate, government final consumption expenditure and population are the key FDI determinants in African countries. The robustness tests using the lagged variable approach were estimated to analyse if there is a causal relationship FDI and other variables such GDP, random effects revealed that there is uni-directional causality from GDP growth to FDI. Additionally, FDI was found to have been negatively but non-significantly affected by economic growth under the pooled OLS. / Hierdie studie poog om die sleuteleterminante van buitelandse direkte investering (BDI) in Afrikalande te ontleed deur gebruikmaking van jaarlikse data vir die tydperk 2003 tot 2015. Eerstens stel dit BDI bekend en verskaf ’n agtergrond daarvoor. Tweedens bied dit sowel ’n teoretiese as empiriese literatuuroorsig van die belangrikste BDI-determinante. Op grond van die literatuuroorsig is die volgende uitgevoer om die belangrikste BDI-veranderlikes te ontleed: voorskattingsdiagnostiek (korrelasieontleding, beskrywende statistiek en ontleding van gemiddelde en algehele gemiddelde), paneelworteltoetse, paneelkoïntegrasietoetse, hoofdataontleding (vaste effekte, ewekansige effekte, saamgevoegde gewone kleinste kwadrate [GKK], volledig gewysigde GKK en dinamiese veralgemeende momentemetode [VMM]) en robuustheidstoetse deur gebruikmaking van die gesloerdeveranderlike-benadering. Hoofdataontleding het aangedui dat die naloop van BDI ’n beduidende positiewe uitwerking op BDI het. Die empiriese resultate het aan die lig gebring dat mensekapitaalontwikkeling, infrastruktuur, groeikoers, handelstoegang, natuurlike hulpbronne, finansiële ontwikkeling, werkloosheid, wisselkoers, die staat se finale verbruiksbesteding en bevolking die belangrikste BDI-determinante in Afrikalande is. Die robuustheidstoetse deur gebruikmaking van die gesloerdeveranderlike-benadering het ten doel gehad om te ontleed of ’n kousale verband tussen BDI en ander veranderlikes soos BBP bestaan. Ewekansige effekte het getoon dat daar eenrigtingkousaliteit van BBP-groei na BDI is. Daarbenewens is bevind dat BDI negatief maar niebeduidend geraak is deur ekonomiese groei ingevolge die saamgevoegde GKK. / Lolu cwaningo luzama ukuhlaziya izinto ezinquma ngotshalo-mali lwamanye amazwe oluqonde ngqo olwaziwa ngokuthi yi-foreign direct investment (FDI) emazweni ase-Afrika ngokusebenzisa idata yonyaka yesikhathi sokusukela ngo 2003 ukuya ku 2015. Okokuqala, lwethula nokuhllinzeka ngesendlalelo nge-FDI. Okwesibili, luhlinzeka ngokubuyekeza imibhalo yethiyori kanye nobufakazi ngezinto ezibalulekile ezinquma nge-FDI. Ngokulandela imibhalo ebuyekeziwe, isilinganiso sokubonwa kwezimbangela okwaziwa nge-pre-estimation diagnostics (correlation analysis, descriptive statistics kanye ne-mean ne-overall mean analysis), uhlolo lwe-panel root tests, uhlolo lwe-panel cointegration tests, kanye nohlaziyo lwe-main data analysis (fixed effects, random effects, i-pooled ordinary least squares [OLS], i-fully modified OLS kanye ne-dynamic generalised method of moments [GMM]. kanye nohlolo olujulile ngokusebenzisa inqubo ye-lagged variable approach kwaqhutshwa ukuhlaziya izinto ezibalulekile ezinquma ngama-FDI variables. Uhlaziyo lwe-data enkulu lukhombise ukusalela emuva kwe-FDI kube nomphumela omuhle kwi-FDI. Imiphumela yobufakazi bocwaningo ikhombise ukuthi ukuthuthuka kwabantu, ingqalasizinda, izinga lokukhula komnotho, ukuvuleka kwezokuhwebelana, imithombo yemvelo, intuthuko yezezimali, ukusweleka kwemisebenzi, izinga lokushintshiselana ngezimali, izindleko zokusebenzisa izinto kukahulumeni, kanye nesizwe sonkana, yizinto ezinkulu ezinquma nge-FDK kumazwe ase-Afrika. Uhlolo olujulile olusebenzisa inqubo ye-lagged variable approach lwalinganiselwa ukuhlaziya ukuthi ngabe bukhona ubuhlobo bembangela yobuhlobo obukhona phakathi kwe-FDI kanye namanye ama-variable afana nawe-GDP. Imiphumela engahlelekile ye-random effects ikhombise ukuthi kukhona uhidehide lwembangela phakathi kokukhula kwe-GDP kanye ne-FDI. Nangaphezu kwalokho, i-FDI itholakale ichaphazeleka kabi kodwa ngokungabalulekile kakhulu ngokukhula komnotho ngaphansi kwe-pooled OLS. / Business Management / M. Com. (Financial Management)

<p>Financial sector development can reduce poverty and promote economic growth by extending access to financial services in developing countries. Traditionally, banking in Sub-Saharan Africa has been conducted by state-owned banks. Although, evidence has shown that severe government involvement in the banking sector has proved to cause low profitability and inefficiency. During 2001, Uganda Commercial Bank, the dominant provider of banking experienced financial problems; as a result, the government had to privatize the bank. The aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate if the privatization prevented the banking sector from collapse and if it made the sector more competitive and outreaching. The main conclusion is that the privatization strongly prevented the banking sector from collapse. Since privatization, competition has increased sufficiently in urban areas of Uganda while rural areas have not experienced any significant increase in competition. Finally, we conclude that the outreach of banking has increased somewhat since the privatization, but it is still relatively poor.</p>

It is well established in the financial economics literature that potential gains from international diversification are generated from the imperfect correlation between national stock market returns. This empirical study explores the factors that impede perfect integration among national equity markets by examining emerging markets data. The first major topic of the dissertation is to re-visit the debate on the relative importance of country and industry effects in the cross-sectional variation of stock returns. By applying the standard Heston and Rouwenhorst (1994) dummy variable decomposition method to $U. S. nominal returns from 11 industry sectors of 13 emerging markets from 1984 to 2004, this work confirms that country effects do play a dominant role in determining the cross-sectional variation in stock returns in emerging markets but since late 1990s, the industry effects have become increasingly important. This conclusion is robust even after the removal of three potential biases: inflation rate, exchange rate and interest rate effects, all of which may amplify the country effects. The second topic is to investigate the debate from the perspective of stock risk. Stock risk is modeled and calculated independently from a return model with ARCH type errors. By applying the standard dummy variable decomposition method to stock risks, the empirical evidence is found to support the conclusions drawn on stock return decompositions. Finally, in order to find the fundamental sources of the country and industry factors, pure country and industry effects are then regressed on fundamental characteristics of country and industry. The findings show that the change in the variables representing the exchange rate can explain a substantial amount of the country effect variations, while at the same time, banking and stock markets development also contribute to the variations. The regressions also find evidence that the legal origin of the market does matter to stock returns. Regressions on industry effects are not as promising as the results of the country effects regression. Only the geographical concentration of industries is found to explain a small amount of the industry effects.

This thesis addresses the question, whether the impact of financial development on the relative and absolute indicators of poverty is dependent on the levels of the human capital present in an economy. To answer this question, first we develop a theoretical framework to explain the growth process in the context of financial development assuming that human capital is heterogeneous in terms of the skills and education people have. Then, by using the data sets based on five-year averages over 1960-2010 and 1980-2010, covering 107 developed and developing countries, we empirically investigate the extensions of the theoretical framework developed earlier. These extensions cover the relationships between: 1. Income inequality and economic growth 2. Financial development, human capital and income inequality, and 3. Financial development, human capital and poverty We provide empirical evidence using modern panel data techniques of dynamic and static GMM. The findings elucidate that income inequality and economic growth are inter-dependent on each other. There exists an inverse relationship between initial inequality and economic growth. The changes in income inequality follow the pattern identified by Kuznets (1955) known as Kuznets’ hypothesis. The results also show that financial development helps in reducing income inequalities and in alleviating poverty, only when there is a sufficient level of human capital available. On the basis of our findings we develop the term "effective financial development" which means that financial development is effective in accelerating growth levels, reducing income inequalities and alleviating poverty only if there is a sufficient level of human capital available. The empirical study covers multiple aspects of financial development like private credit extended by banks and other financial institutions, liquid liabilities and stock market capitalization. The results of the empirical investigations are robust to multiple data sets and various indicators of income inequality, financial development, poverty and human capital. The study also provides marginal analysis, which helps in understanding the impact of financial development on inequality and poverty at different levels of human capital. This research study of effective financial development can be a useful learning paradigm for the academics and researchers interested in growth economics and keen to learn how poverty and income inequality can be reduced effectively. This study can also be useful for the policy makers in the financial institutions, because it provides robust empirical evidence that shows that financial development cannot help in alleviating poverty and in reducing inequalities unless there is a sufficient level of human capital available. The findings can be useful for policy makers, particularly in the developing countries where high levels of income inequalities and poverty are big problems. This study explains the mechanism of how effective financial development can be used to reduce income inequalities and to alleviate poverty. It also explains the process of inter-linkages between financial development, human capital, inequality, economic growth and financial instability. The policy makers can also take advantage from the marginal analyses that illustrate the minimum levels of private credit and primary and secondary schooling above which the effects of financial development and human capital become significant in reducing inequalities and poverty.

[pt] Este trabalho apresenta uma ferramenta baseada em modelos para derivação de produtos de LPSs, denominada GenArch. O objetivo principal da ferramenta é permitir que a comunidade de desenvolvimento de software tradicional, utilize conceitos e fundamentos de abordagens de LPSs na produção de seus sistemas ou partes de seus sistemas sem a necessidade do entendimento de modelos e conceitos complexos. A abordagem implementada pela ferramenta foi elaborada com base em fundamentos do desenvolvimento dirigido por modelos. Centrada na definição de três modelos (características, implementação e configuração), a ferramenta permite a derivação automática de produtos ou frameworks existentes. O trabalho também define um conjunto específico de anotações Java que possibilitam a geração automática dos modelos de derivação a partir dos elementos de implementação da arquitetura de uma LPS. A plataforma Eclipse e as tecnologia EMF e openArchitectureWare foram utilizadas como base para a implementação da ferramenta. Uma extensão da ferramenta que atende especificamente aos modelos de componente Spring e OSGi, também é proposta nessa dissertação. Tal extensão permite a instanciação automática da LPS e aplicações através de diferentes tipos de customizações, variando da configuração fina de propriedades de componentes até a seleção automática de quais componentes irão compor o produto final. Como parte de validação da abordagem, a ferramenta foi utilizada na derivação automática de três diferentes estudos de caso: (i) o framework JUnit; (ii) uma LPS de jogos J2ME; e (iii) uma aplicação web baseada em serviços. Diversas lições aprendidas e resultados do uso da ferramenta nestes três diferentes cenários são também apresentadas. / [en] This work presents a model-based tool for product derivation, called GenArch, which aims to enable the mainstream software developer community to use the concepts and foundations of the SPL approach, without the need to understand complex concepts or models. The tool approach is build on top of model-driven development techniques. It is centered on the definition of three models (feature, implementation and configuration models), which enable the automatic instantiation of software product lines (SPLs) or frameworks. A set of specific Java annotations are also defined to allow generating automatically many of the models, based on existing implementations elements of SPL architectures. The Eclipse platform, and EMF and openArchitectureWare technologies are used as the base for the implementation of the tool. The dissertation also presents a GenArch extension that addresses the new abstractions provided by the Spring and OSGi component models. Different kinds of customizations are provided by this extension varying from fine-grained configuration of component properties to the automatic selection of components that will compose the final product. As part of the approach validation, the tool was used in the derivation of three case studies: (i) JUnit framework; (ii) a J2ME games SPL; (iii) a service oriented Web application. Several lessons learned and discussions resulting from the use of the tool also are described.

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The aim of this work is to examine the impact of financial development, financial constraints and capital control on stocks market returns. The research looks into stock returns of emerging and developed economies over the period of 2004-2016 by using data, both by firm-level and country level, from 88 developed and emerging countries. Furthermore, the KZ, WW and SA indexes were used to classified as being financially constrained and financially unconstrained and the level of capital control of each group of countries is interacted with financial constraints. We aim to determine the relationship between the variables used as the measurement (depth, access, efficiency and stability) of financial development of a country, the financial constraint and capital control and their relationship to the stock market returns. Previous research focusing on stock market returns have dealt with different influences affecting the stock returns; however, the literature examining the influence of capital control on stock return is scarce. Our results suggest that the extended Fama and French three-factor model including macroeconomic and financial development variables and considering the presence of financial constraints help in the understanding in their impact on asset pricing for emerging and developed countries alike. / Este trabalho tem por objetivo examinar o impacto do desenvolvimento financeiro, das restrições financeiras e do controle de capital no retorno das ações. A pesquisa analisa o retorno das ações dos países emergentes e desenvolvidos durante o período de 2004-2016 através de uma base de dados de 88 países, emergentes e desenvolvidos, com dados tanto ao nível da firma como ao nível do país. Além disso, os índices KZ, WW e SA são usados para classificar as empresas como restritas e não restritas financeiramente, e utiliza-se também as interações do nível de controle de capital com as restrições financeiras. O objetivo é determinar a relação entre as variáveis de desenvolvimento financeiro do país (profundidade, acesso, eficiência e estabilidade), as restrições financeiras e o controle de capital com o retorno de mercado das ações. As pesquisas anteriores acerca do tema retorno lidaram com diferentes fatores que afetam o retorno de ações; entretanto, estudos envolvendo a influência do controle de capital no retorno de ações ainda são escassos Nossos resultados sugerem que um modelo composto coletivamente pelo modelo de três fatores de Fama e French e variáveis macroeconômicas e de desenvolvimento financeiro, considerando ao mesmo tempo restrições financeiras, ajuda na melhor compreensão do impacto de ditas variáveis no preço de ativos em países emergentes e desenvolvidos.

Le sujet de cette thèse porte sur l’analyse de l’hétérogénéité et des dynamiques du chômage régional, des conséquences de chocs négatifs sur la croissance économique et du lien entre le développement financier et la croissance au niveau des entreprises et des pays. Le chapitre 1 montre les dynamiques distributionnelles du chômage régional Européen. Conjointement avec Robert Beyer, nous étudions le comportement des taux de chômage régionaux autour de l’introduction de l’Euro et la crise financière mondiale. En plus, nous examinons les contributions européennes et nationales aux changements relatives dans le temps. Le chapitre 2 propose une analyse empirique de la convergence de la croissance économique de l’Europe de l’Ouest et des pays en transition. Dans ce travail en collaboration avec Olivier Damette et Mathilde Maurel, nous étudions la capacité à sortir d’une période de récession. En plus, nous analysons une non linéarité potentielle dans le processus de sortie. Le chapitre 3 centre son analyse sur l’étude des contraintes financières internes de la croissance des entreprises en Serbie. Conjointement avec Milos Markovic, nous étudions le degré de dépendance aux flux de liquidité des entreprises serbes pour leurs activités d’expansion et les comparons avec ceux des firmes belges. Enfin, dans le chapitre 4, j’explore la relation entre le développement financier et la croissance économique dans les pays en transition. Dans un cadre de causalité Granger en panel, j’analyse les effets de différents indicateurs financiers sur le PIB par tête et inversement. / The subject of this doctoral thesis deals with the analysis of regional unemployment heterogeneity and dynamics, the response of economic growth to negative shocks and the link between financial development and growth on a firm and country level. Chapter 1 shows the distributional dynamics of European regional unemployment. In this joint work with Robert Beyer, we study the behavior of regional unemployment rates with respect to the introduction of the Euro and the Global Financial Crisis and analyze European and country contributions to relative changes over time. Chapter 2 provides an empirical analysis into growth convergence of western European and transition countries after negative shocks. A collaboration with Olivier Damette and Mathilde Maurel, we study the rebound capacity, the speed of convergence to the normal growth path as well as nonlinearities along the process. Chapter 3 takes a closer look at internal financial constraints of firm growth in Serbia. A joint work with Milos Markovic, we show how much Serbian firms depend on cash flow for their expansionary activities and compare our sensitivity results with Belgium, a country with an advanced financial sector. Finally, in chapter 4 I explore the relationship between financial development and economic growth in transition countries. Through a panel Granger causality framework different financial indicators and their effects on per capita GDP as well as opposite causalities are assessed.