This thesis proposes an original framework for the analysis of third world informal finance. It will be supported by a comprehensive survey of the associated literature. Specifically, most mainstream interpretations of informal finance adhere to a dualist paradigm that revolves around three key assumptions. First that informal firms are less efficient than formal firms in conducting financial transactions, second that their activities are protected from formal competition due to segmented financial markets, and finally that the economic impact of informal finance is inferior to an overall formal system. Yet much of the qualitative evidence of informal finance contradict these assumptions and limit the validity of dualist interpretations. The dualist conclusion that informal finance is a transitory phenomenon can therefore be derailed, leaving room for a more open ended interpretation of contemporary financial informality.

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A dissertation submitted to the School of International Relations of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in part-fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, March 2017 / This thesis is situated within the study of International Relations. It centers on a critical analysis of the World Bank’s ideological framework towards its poverty reduction and development goals. It seeks to provide an understanding of the ideas, ideals, and values that form the basis of the Bank’s development thinking. Ideology plays an important role in this thesis, as the way the World Bank thinks of and pursues development is of great importance; it speaks to the ideology of development, not just within the Bank, but within the global structure of development. Literature that is reviewed in this thesis suggests that the Bank leans towards a neo-liberal ideology. The selected text for the analysis, The World Development Report: Attacking Poverty (2000-01) will also be analysed in order to review the principles that have been adopted by the Bank and the development community at large. In order to understand and explore the factors that influence the Bank’s ideological framework, this study employs two levels of analysis through a critical theoretical framework and discourse analysis as a methodological tool. The first level of analysis looks at internal sources of influence; the Bank’s voting and governance structure. The second level considers external sources of influence, such as intellectual culture and bureaucratic culture. As stated above, a critical analysis of the Bank’s key document, the World Development Report: Attacking Poverty (2000-01), will also be carried out. This thesis concludes that through internal sources of influences such as the unequal voting shares; powerful actors such as the United States have shaped the Bank’s thinking towards development, as the Bank’s view of development leans towards Anglo-American norms and values as well as interests. Through external sources of influence, the Bank has been dominated by an economic discourse, which Wade (2006) has termed ‘economic imperialism’. Through its hiring, promotion and research publications, the Bank has favored the discourse of economics. Through its financial power within the global arena, the Bank has the power to influence the development narrative, its ideas and values of development have been normalized and universalized within the development community. Its financial strength and research output, both within the Bank and the global arena, are some of its aspect that aid in the maintenance of the status quo in development, consequently, this has led to other views that are not in line with the Bank to be ignored and neglected. The Bank has also presented the neoliberal ideology as the best means to achieve development and alleviate poverty, this is evidenced through the Bank’s key text, as neoliberal principles such as privatisation and deregulation are presented as the only way to achieve development. This thesis also recognises that the Bank does not exists in a vacuum, it ideology, norms and values are also heavily influenced by events that take place on the international sphere, such as the economic crises of the 1970s that influenced the Bank’s position on poverty and development. / XL2018

Financial systems (i.e. banking systems and stock markets) can influence economic growth by performing the five key financial functions, namely: mobilising savings, allocating capital, easing of exchange, monitoring and exerting corporate governance, as well as ameliorating risk. The level of development of the financial system is a key determinant of how effectively and efficiently these functions are performed. This study examines the short-run and long-run relationships between financial system development and economic growth for a panel of seven African countries (namely: Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia) covering the period 1988 to 2008. While numerous empirical studies have researched this topic, none of the previous African empirical literature have investigated thjs by using three groups of financial development measures (i.e. overall financial development, banking system development and stock market development measures) as well as employing panel cointegration analyses. The investigation of the long-run finance-growth relationship is conducted using two methods; the Pedroni panel cointegration approach and the Kao panel cointegration technique. The Pedroni panel cointegracion approach is more often applied in empirical research as it has less restrictive deterministic trend assumptions, while the Kao panel cointegration technique is employed in this study for comparison purposes. Furthermore, the short-run linkages bet\veen financial development and economic growth are analysed using the Holtz-Eakin d of (1989) panel Granger causality test. The results of the Pedroni cointegration tests show that there are long-run relationships between overall financial development (measured by LOFD and OFD2) and economic growth, banking system development (measured by LPSC) and economic growth, as well as stock marker development (measured by LMCP and LVLT) and economic growth. In contrast, the Kao test fails to find any cointegration between finance and growth. However, on the balance, findings largely support a conclusion of cointegration between financial development and economic growth since the Pedroni approach is more appropriate for examining cointegration in heterogeneous panels. Estimates of these long-run cointegrating relationships show that all five financial development measures have the expected positive linkages with growth. However, only four of the five financial development measures were found to have significant long-run linkages with growth, as the relationship between LOFD and growth was not found to be significant in the long-run. The panel Granger causality results show that economic growth Granger causes banking system development in the short-run (i.e. there is demand-following finance), irrespective of the measure of banking development used. While there is bi-directional, reciprocal causality between economic growth and both of the measures of overall financial development and one measure of srock market development (i.e. LVLT). Thus, pulicy makers should focus on formulating policy which promotes faster paced economic growth so as to stimulate financial development, while at the same time encourage policy that promotes the balanced expansion of the banking systems and srock markets in ordet to augment economic growth.

Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished