對一開放經濟體系而言，當面臨國際經濟波動的衝擊時，經濟成長率會受到國際經濟波動的衝擊幅度以及其外債負擔額度所影響。本論文第二章建立一個開放經濟的貨幣內生成長模型，在爬行釘住匯率制度下，生產技術以實物資本作為生產要素投入，加上貨幣進入交易成本的設定，從最適均衡的角度來探討當一國經濟體系遭受國際經濟波動的衝擊時，如何透過風險貼水管道來影響經濟成長的表現，以及探討國際金融危機傳遞的過程，同時並探究外債減輕政策的成效。我們發現在最適均衡成長下，當一國面臨國際經濟波動的衝擊時，不但會使長期外債−資本比率下降與實質貨幣−資本比率上升外，同時也伴隨者對國內實質資本需求的減少，進而降低經濟成長率。國際經濟波動所帶來的不利影響會因外債的減輕而獲得紓緩，而有助於經濟成長。 第三章利用亞洲及拉丁美洲20個國家的追蹤資料，檢定過度債務假說的存在以及外債對金融部門發展與經濟成長的影響。實證結果顯示，外債對GDP比率對一國經濟成長具有顯著的負面影響效果，過度債務假說成立；過度債務會透過抑制金融部門的發展，進而妨礙一國的經濟成長。此外，本章的實證結果也顯示一國金融部門的發展與經濟成長，彼此間存在顯著的雙向交互影響關係。 在第四章中，我們同樣利用亞洲及拉丁美洲國家的追蹤資料，藉以衡量外債、國外直接投資、及經濟成長之間的交叉影響效果。實證結果顯示，在這些國家中，國外直接投資對經濟成長具有正面的貢獻，但是過度債務會不利於這些國家的經濟成長。最後，我們也發現一國金融部門發展的健全程度在這之間扮演了重要的角色，即金融市場愈健全的國家，其國外直接投資所帶來對經濟成長的貢獻程度也就愈大。 / For a small open economy, sovereign debt and default have important effects on both economic fluctuations and growth. The instability caused by high levels of external debt may adversely affect economic growth. Consequently, the purpose of chapter 2 is to set out a framework for developing countries embedding nominal money balances to facilitate transactions cost model. Output is produced using a stock of broad-concept productive capital, the international financial externality, and investment expenditures involving adjustment costs. We provide a theoretical formalization that is the base for and explanation of the contagion of financial crises, and find that debt relief is expected to stimulate growth by releasing resources from debt service to investments in infrastructure and reduce the risk of spread. Such investments, in turn, enhance domestic investment, besides attracting private foreign investment. Moreover, we have also found that debt relief will raise the real output capital ratio, the market value of capital, and the real balance-capital ratio, and promote economic growth in the long run. In chapter 3, we use panel data of 20 high external debt countries selected from Asia and Latin-America to investigate the financial sector development-debt-growth nexus within the framework of an endogenous growth and financial development mechanism. First, we found that among 20 high external debt countries, the external debt-to-GDP ratio is significantly negatively correlated with economic growth rates, indicating that excessive debt is detrimental to the growth of an economy. Second, we introduced the simultaneous GMM equations between financial sector development and economic growth to evaluate the interaction effects among economic growth, external debt, and financial sector development. In empirical results, we find that the negative impact of high debt on growth appears to operate through a strong negative effect, in terms of compulsion to resort to financially repressive policies. In addition, we also find a two-way relationship between financial sector development and economic growth. Further, this dissertation also aims to investigate how the link between FDI and economic growth in developing countries. Chapter 4 explores the interplay between foreign direct investment (FDI), external debt and economic growth using panel data analysis for a sample of Asian and Latin American countries. First we use several different panel data models to investigate the determinants of economic growth. Our results suggest that FDI contribute positively to long-term economic growth in these countries, and the percentage of external debt to GDP is negatively correlated with the economic growth rate, indicate that debt overhang impeded growth in Asia and Latin America. Secondly, we introduced the simultaneous GMM equation between FDI and economic growth to examine the various linkages among the relevant determinants of FDI, external debt and economic growth. In empirical results, we find financial development plays an important role in influencing the effects of FDI on output, countries with well-developed financial markets gain significantly from FDI in terms of their growth rates. Furthermore, the negative impact of the short-term debt to external debt ratio, on growth appears to operate through a negative effect on FDI inflows. In addition, we also find evidence that the hypotheses of growth-driven FDI and FDI-led growth are developed on the basis of recent studies on economic effects of FDI in both regions.

The Asian financial crisis in 1997 98 left a severe impact on Malaysia s economy and banking system. This has forced the Malaysian government to undertake financial restructuring initiatives to restore market and public confidence, and to meet the ongoing challenges associated with market structure, financial innovation and globalisation. Therefore, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) introduced a ten-year Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP) to strengthen domestic banks and the regulatory structure, and to promote the banks efficiency by stimulating a competitive banking industry through financial liberalisation. The crisis for banks in Malaysia and the region has been extensively studied in the past (Sufian, 2010). However, empirical studies of the post-crisis period, and the implementation of the FSMP, remain limited. Hence, a data set of all banks in Malaysia, which covers the period 2000 2011, was employed to examine the effect of the FSMP s initiatives on Malaysian banks efficiency between 2000 and 2011. To measure this efficiency, this study employs both parametric and nonparametric models: namely, stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Economic functions such as, cost-, standard profit- and alternative profit-efficiency were used in a 1-stage SFA model, which includes control variables (e.g. capital adequacy, asset quality and liquidity) and environmental variables (e.g. ownership, size, specialisation, deregulation periods and market structure) in the model specifications. In addition, this study employs SFA as the main measurement method, while the DEA model was used to cross-check consistency (Resti, 1997; Bauer et al., 1998). Both SFA and DEA demonstrated that, in most cases, the consistency was moderate. The level of cost efficiency of Malaysian banks worsened over the years 2000 2011, with average cost efficiency during this period was at 76.5%. Despite the various liberalisation measures introduced to the banking industry particularly during the three phases of the FSMP; 2000 2003; 2004 2007; 2008 2011 cost efficiency trended downward, due to the effects of consolidation by domestic banks, deregulation of interest rates, the introduction of foreign Islamic banks, and the global credit crisis. Banks in Malaysia were forced to adjust their inputs and outputs to the rapid changes in the banking industry, which might have made a negative impact on cost efficiency. On the other hand, the banks demonstrated a steadily increasing profit efficiency trend, which fluctuated with the introduction of interest rate liberalisation (early second phase of the FSMP (i.e. 2004)) and during the global credit crisis (early third phase of the FSMP (i.e. 2008)). The average profit efficiency for 2000 2011 was 93.3%. The profit efficiency exhibited an increasing trend in the first (2000-2003) and second (2004-2007) phases of the FSMP, suggesting that the effect of consolidation by domestic banks had resulted in higher market concentration and greater market power among the remaining banks. However, the profit efficiency average scores fell in 2004, 2008 and 2011. This is attributed to the deregulation of interest rates, the deleveraging of the inflow of foreign funds, and the rapid increase in policy interest rates. At a more granular level, domestic banks were found to be more cost efficient, but marginally less profit efficient, when compared to foreign banks. In terms of bank specialisation, conventional banks were more cost- and profit-efficient than Islamic banks. With regard to economies of scale, the majority of Malaysian banks revealed scale economies, illustrated by a U-shape, with medium-sized banks being more scale efficient than small and large banks. These results suggest that, to enhance Malaysian banks efficiency, the government must maintain competitive pressure on the large domestic banks that were consolidated during the first phase of the FSMP (2000-2003). Policymakers may want to further open up banking markets, improve risk management and governance, encourage financial innovation, and support expansion of smaller banks. The implementation of deregulation initiatives during periods of uncertainty (e.g. the global credit crisis) have also resulted in decreasing trend of cost and profit efficiency. Hence, monitoring initiatives, using tools such as frontier measurement is important for regulator s macro- and micro-prudential surveillance.

This thesis examines retail bank workers’ informal learning practices in a major Canadian bank under conditions of rapid organizational restructuring and ongoing automation during the mid- to late-1990s. Based on a national survey of bank workers’ learning practices and ethnographic fieldwork in three branches, the thesis’s key findings are as follows. The poor learning environment in the branches, combined with the bank’s adoption of a formal study training policy, are at odds with both empirical surveys of adults’ informal learning practices and with adults’ preferred ways of learning at work – which are predominantly informal in nature. There is also evidence that informal on-the-job learning is being displaced and crowded out by work-related formal study via the “substitution effect” (Livingstone, 2010, 424). The heavy formal study pressures are heightened by the lack of trade unions and job security, and the vulnerable position of many women workers, particularly those without higher education.

This thesis examines retail bank workers’ informal learning practices in a major Canadian bank under conditions of rapid organizational restructuring and ongoing automation during the mid- to late-1990s. Based on a national survey of bank workers’ learning practices and ethnographic fieldwork in three branches, the thesis’s key findings are as follows. The poor learning environment in the branches, combined with the bank’s adoption of a formal study training policy, are at odds with both empirical surveys of adults’ informal learning practices and with adults’ preferred ways of learning at work – which are predominantly informal in nature. There is also evidence that informal on-the-job learning is being displaced and crowded out by work-related formal study via the “substitution effect” (Livingstone, 2010, 424). The heavy formal study pressures are heightened by the lack of trade unions and job security, and the vulnerable position of many women workers, particularly those without higher education.

This paper examines the impact of financial sector foreign direct investment (FSFDI) on economic growth by estimating a panel data model for 11 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) between 1996 and 2003 in a cross-country growth accounting framework. The analysis concentrates on the efficiency channel linking FSFDI to economic growth. The results clearly indicate that there can be a relationship between FSFDI and economic growth. Approaching a medium degree of financial M&A is rewarded by higher economic growth after two periods. Beyond it, FSFDI seems to spur economic growth depending on a higher human capital stock. FSFDI-induced knowledge-spillovers to domestic banks can be an explanation for this phenomenon. Above a certain threshold, the crowding-out of local physical capital caused by the entry of a foreign bank seems to hamper economic growth. The value of the paper lies in (1) providing novel data on FSFDI in CEECs, (2) analyzing the impact of FDI on a sectoral level and (3) in modeling the hitherto only qualitatively discussed relationship between foreign banks and economic development into a structural, econometric model that combines two streams of economic research: the FDI-growth-literature and the finance-growth-literature. (author's abstract) / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

The main purpose of the study is to examine the cointegration relationships among economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial sector development in 4 East Asian countries, namely Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand between the years 1971-2008 by autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. In the existing literature, there is no study examining the causal relationships among economic growth, foreign direct investment and financial sector development by applying ARDL methodology for these East Asian countries. The contribution of this study to the literature, the cointegration relationships are constructed to observe the direct linkage among these variables by ARDL approach. If cointegration relationships exist among these variables, then the effect of each regressor on the dependent variable is also investigated. The results of the study indicate that foreign direct investment and financial sector development could be long run forcing variables of economic growth. Additionally, economic growth and financial sector development could be long run forcing variables of foreign direct investment. However, there is not sufficient evidence that economic growth and foreign direct investment together are long run key determinants of financial sector development in a country as obtained in this study.

Darbo tema yra aktuali tuo, kad tarptautinės reitingų agentūros, įvertindamos skolų krizę Europoje, pastaruoju metu daugeliui šalių mažino valstybės kredito reitingus ar blogino jų perspektyvas. Nors po prieš trejus metus patirto nuosmukio Baltijos šalių reitingai ir stabilizavosi, jų aukštesnių reikšmių išlaikymas Baltijos valstybėms yra svarbus užsienio investicijų pritraukimo ir šių šalių finansų sektoriaus vystymosi veiksnys. Vis dėlto, reitingų gerėjimas gali turėti ir priešingą poveikį.Todėl svarbu išsiaiškinti situaciją Baltijos šalyse. Tiriamojo darbo objektas yra Baltijos šalių ilgalaikio ir trumpalaikio skolinimosi užsienio valiuta reitingai bei ilgalaikio ir trumpalaikio skolinimosi nacionaline valiuta reitingai. Šio darbo tikslas - atlikus teorinę valstybės kredito reitingų ir jų įtakos šalies finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams analizę, nustatyti valstybės kredito reitingų įtaką finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams Baltijos šalyse. Darbo tikslui pasiekti buvo suformuluoti uždaviniai: atlikti teorinę valstybės kredito reitingų ir jų įtakos šalies finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams analizę, išanalizuoti Baltijos šalių finansų sektoriaus išsivystymo lygį bei užsienio investicijų srautų ir kredito reitingų šiose šalyse pokyčių tendencijas, reitingus įtakojusius veiksnius, nustatyti valstybės kredito reitingų įtaką finansų sektoriaus vystymuisi ir užsienio investicijų srautams Baltijos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The topic of the work is relevant due to the fact, that international credit rating agencies, assessing the debt crisis in Europe, recently downgraded credit ratings or their outlook for many countries. Despite the fact that sovereign credit ratings of Baltic states have stabilized after the decline occured three years ago, higher ratings are the essential factor for Baltic states, seeking to attract foreign investment and promote their financial sector development. Though, the improvements of ratings may have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is important to clarify the situation in Baltic states. The object of the research work – the Baltic states‘ short and long term in foreign and local currency ratings. The purpose of this paper is to establish the impact of sovereign credit ratings on the financial sector development and international capital flows in the Baltic states, doing theoretical analysis on sovereign credit ratings and their impact on the financial sector development and international capital flows in a country. In order to achieve an objective, the following tasks have been fomulated: to accomplish above-mentioned theoretical analysis, to analyse the level of financial sector development, changes in trends of international capital flows and sovereign credit ratings in the Baltic states, reveal the main factors, which affected ratings in these countries and ascertain the influence of these ratings on the financial sector development and international capital... [to full text]

Without doubt a well-developed financial sector is related to efficient resource allocation and growth, but there is modest consensus on the direction of that link, on the notion of what is meant by "well developed", on which subset of the financial market is crucial and thus which organisational set-up provides optimal returns for both architects and market participants alike. With sluggish growth, torn down market barriers and systemic change in the EU accession countries the direction, magnitude, sustainability, institutional set-up of the finance-growth nexus (and which), becomes one of the core issues of both macroeconomic theory and practice. This paper reviews the economic theory available, provides a well structured overview of 54 empirical studies conducted since 1964, sets the stage for constructing a data base encompassing the major three segments of financial markets (stock, bond and bank credit) and provides the methodological background for combining cross-country production function and time-series approaches in order to answer the following questions: (1) What is the direction of the finance-growth nexus, (2) which segment of the financial sector drives whatever nexus there is, and (3) what are the features of a growth supportive financial architecture. / Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

The ability of banks to implement regulations is important in several aspects. From the Finance Inspection ́s Point of view a successful implementation is important to protect the financial system and the consumers. For the banks it is important from a cost-benefit perspective, but also to keep customers satisfied and to maintain the right to continue banking. In spite of the advantages of successful implementation, the research in this area is limited. The aim of the study is therefore to explain how banks can implement new regulations. To fulfil the aim of the study we have adopted a qualitative view. Two case studies have been made in which empirics has been collected through eight semi-structured interviews. The respondents were bank employees who had been highly involved in the implementation of MiFID II and MiFIR. The empirics were thereafter analyzed with guidance from the theoretical frame of reference. The conclusion of the study is that the banks implementation of regulations is influenced by different factors: the cooperation between banks, the aim of the bank, the corporation culture, and the structure of the organization. The analyze has been used as a start point to create a model for how banks implement regulations. Implementation can be divided into interpretation and introduction. A major challenge is to translate the regulations and integrate them into the business activity. In order to make the employee practice the regulations, different steering mechanisms are used, for example education, information and monitoring. / Bankers förmåga att implementera regelverk kan utifrån flera perspektiv anses viktigt. Utifrån finansinspektionens perspektiv är en lyckad implementering viktigt för att skydda det finansiella systemet och konsumenterna. Medan det utifrån bankernas egna perspektiv är viktigt, dels ur ett kostnadsperspektiv och dels för att bibehålla nöjda kunder samt rätten att bedriva bankverksamhet. Trots fördelen med en lyckad implementering är tidigare forskning på området begränsad. Studiens syfte är därför att förklara hur banker implementerar nya regelverk. För att uppfylla studiens syfte har ett kvalitativt tillvägagångsätt tillämpats. I undersökningen har två fallstudier genomförts där empiri samlats genom åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna bestod av bankanställda som varit högt uppsatta i implementeringen av MiFID II och MiFIR. Empirin har sedan analyserats med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen. Utifrån analysen har sedan en modell för hur banker implementerar regelverk skapats. Studiens slutsats är att bankers implementering av regelverk påverkas av samarbete mellan banker via branschorganisationer, bankernas målsättning, företagskulturen, regelverkets komplexitet och till viss del av organisationsstrukturen. Implementering kan delas upp i tolkning och införande där en stor del handlar om att översätta regelverket och integrera det i affärsverksamheten. För att sedan få anställda att tillämpa regelverket används olika former av styrmekanismer, så som utbildning, information och uppföljning.

Ever since the 1960s, it has been argued that customer needs have to be a firm's core business purpose. One way for firm to achieve this, is through use of market orientation strategies. Recent research has found that shared leadership could have a positive effect on market orientation, as well as within top management teams. The ability that top management teams have to influence the organization, is further found to be effected by the level of discretion they operate within. This thesis seeks to explain the relationship between shared leadership within top management teams and market orientation, and how this relationship in turn might be contingent on perceived contextual discretion. This is done through a quantitative method, where a survey study is done on the top management teams in Swedish saving banks. The findings of this thesis show that shared leadership is positively related with market orientation, and that this relationship is not contingent on perceived contextual discretion. The variable of perceived contextual discretion was, however, found to have the effect of an independent variable with a strong positive direct effect on market orientation within the financial sector. One limitation of this thesis is that the statements for perceived contextual discretion has been developed only from concepts, and have not been tested in any previous study. This brings with it a risk that these statements did not measure the concept in the most optimal way. The theoretical contributions of this thesis are how perceived contextual discretion is found to have a direct effect on market orientation. This further imply that perceived contextual discretion has an effect on the level of market orientation within a firm.