Stand alone books
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Publication
Making Finance Work for Africa
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2007)Making Finance Work for Africa presents a coherent policy approach that addresses African priorities and can work in African conditions. It challenges the applicability of some conventional views on a range of issues from securities markets and banking regulation to the organization of microfinance institutions. The authors identify promising trends from across sub-Saharan Africa and pinpoint shortcomings. The book will be useful to policy makers, bankers, financial analysts, and economists working in Africa. -
Publication
Taxation of Financial Intermediation : Theory and Practice for Emerging Economines
(Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003)This volume examines the possibilities and pitfalls to successful financial sector tax reform from theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives. It explores the possibilities and limitations of "big ideas" such as removal of all capital income taxation, the application of VAT to financial services or heavy reliance on financial transactions taxes. The risks of attempting to use financial sector taxes as corrective instruments are stressed. Two defensive criteria are advanced as key: making the financial tax system as arbitrage- and inflation-proof as is practicable. Each commissioned essay develops a distinct aspect of the area. Theoretical chapters model the impact of taxes on intermediaries, the design of optimal tax schemes, the role of imperfect information and the relationship with saving. Current practice in the industrial world and case studies of distorted national systems provide an empirical underpinning. Finally, experience with several of the main practical issues is discussed in chapters ranging from the income tax treatment of intermediary loan-loss reserves, the VAT, financial transactions taxes, deposit insurance and inflation. Contributors are distinguished academics and practitioners. -
Publication
Globalization and National Financial Systems
(Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003)The volume is divided into five traditional areas of finance: the macroeconomy, banking, securities markets, pension issues, and regulations. Four cross-cutting messages emerge. First, the erosion of national frontiers by trade, tourism, migration, and capital account liberalization means that residents of all countries have substantial financial assets, and often liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at home or abroad. Any analysis of national financial systems must take this into account. More important, this factor constrains governments' use of macroeconomic and financial policy and may contribute to economic fluctuations. Second, individuals and firms benefit substantially from the improved risk and return menu associated with global diversification. Diversification is of particular importance in developing countries where the lack of size and diversity of the national economy results in instability in the value of production. Third, the small size of most developing countries limits the efficiency and quality of financial services: banking, equity markets, and pensions. Thus cross-border provision of financial services, one facet of globalization, has potential benefits for small economies. Fourth, taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by globalization and minimizing its costs depend on effective regulation and supervision to ensure good quality information, transparency, market integrity, and prudent investing by banks and pension funds. -
Publication
Financial Sector Policy for Developing Countries : A Reader
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002)The dramatic events of the late 1990s, which followed a wave of financial crises going back to the early 1980s, brought to center stage the issue of financial sector policy in developing countries. Many recent books have presented a chronology and interpretation of the crises, but it is little apreciated that these financial sector problems had been brewing for decades and that a small number of scholars had long been evolving an approach to undertanding the structure and dynamics of these sectors. Spearheaded by a group led by Millard Long, the World Bank began studying more than 20 years ago the problems, risks, and policy solutions surrounding private finance. This volume contains a collection of essays drawing on that accumulated experience and offering a wide perspective based on extensive real-world institutional experience. They are a useful reader on a wide range of the financial policy issues that are central in developing economies today. They reflect also the evolving approach of the Bank's financial sector team and represent the knowledge that the team has accumulated over the years.