Person:
Didier, Tatiana

Office of the Chief Economist, Latin America and Caribbean, World Bank

Fields of Specialization

International finance and development, Emerging market macroeconomics and finance, Latin America, Globalization

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Office of the Chief Economist, Latin America and Caribbean, World Bank

Last updated February 1, 2023

Biography

Tatiana Didier is a Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean. She obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 2008. She has published in the area of international economics. She is currently doing research on international trade and finance, One area of interest is the dynamics of trade and capital flows and the implications for economic growth and development. She is also doing research on the international finance more specifically with a focus on international capital flows, the role of institutional investors, financial crises, and their implications for the development of domestic financial systems.

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 35

The Financing and Growth of Firms in China and India : Evidence from Capital Markets

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04) Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

This paper studies the extent to which firms in China and India use capital markets to obtain financing and grow. Using a unique data set on domestic and international capital raising activity and firm performance, it finds that the expansion of financial market activity since the 1990s has been more limited than what the aggregate figures suggest. Relatively few firms raise capital. Even fewer firms capture the bulk of the financing. Moreover, firms that issue equity or bonds are different and behave differently from other publicly listed firms. Among other things, they are typically larger and grow faster. The differences between users and non-users exist before the capital raising activity, are associated with the probability of raising capital, and become more accentuated afterward. The distribution of issuing firms shifts more over time than the distribution of those that do not issue, suggesting little convergence in firm size among listed firms.
Gross Capital Flows : Dynamics and Crises

(Elsevier, 2013-01) Broner, Fernando ; Didier, Tatiana ; Erce, Aitor ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

This paper analyzes the behavior of international capital flows by foreign and domestic agents, dubbed gross capital flows, over the business cycle and during financial crises. We show that gross capital flows are very large and volatile, especially relative to net capital flows. When foreigners invest in a country, domestic agents invest abroad, and vice versa. Gross capital flows are also pro-cyclical. During expansions, foreigners invest more domestically and domestic agents invest more abroad. During crises, total gross flows collapse and there is a retrenchment in both inflows by foreigners and outflows by domestic agents. These patterns hold for different types of capital flows and crises. This evidence sheds light on the sources of fluctuations driving capital flows and helps discriminate among existing theories. Our findings seem consistent with crises affecting domestic and foreign agents asymmetrically, as would be the case under the presence of sovereign risk or asymmetric information.
The Financing and Growth of Firms in China and India : Evidence from Capital Markets

(Elsevier, 2013-07-05) Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

This paper studies the extent to which firms in China and India use capital markets to obtain financing and grow. Using new data on domestic and international capital raising and firm performance, it finds that financial market activity has expanded less since the 1990s than aggregate figures suggest. Relatively few firms raise capital and even fewer attract most of the financing. Moreover, firms that issue equity or bonds are different and behave differently from other publicly listed firms. Among other things, they are typically larger and grow faster. The differences between users and nonusers exist before the capital raising, are associated with the probability of raising capital, and become more pronounced afterward. The size distribution of issuing firms shifts more over time than the distribution of those that do not issue, suggesting little convergence in size among listed firms.
Unexploited Gains from International Diversification : Patterns of Portfolio Holdings around the World

(MIT Press, 2013-01-22) Didier, Tatiana ; Rigobon, Roberto ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

Using unique data on mutual fund portfolios with different investment scopes, we study the extent of international diversification. Mutual funds invest in a surprisingly limited number of stocks—about 100. The number of holdings from a given region declines as the investment scope broadens. Moreover, unexploited gains exist from international diversification. Funds that invest globally could achieve better risk-adjusted returns by adding stocks held by more specialized funds within the same family. These findings are not driven by different sectoral allocations, lack of information or instruments, transaction costs, or different tail risks. Instead, organizational factors might play an important role.
Emerging Issues in Financial Development : Lessons from Latin America

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014) Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L. ; Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L. ; Ceballos, Francisco ; Martínez Pería, María Soledad ; Freyen, Erik ; Ize, Alain ; Levy-Yeyati, Eduardo ; Williams, Tomás ; Raddatz, Claudio ; Anginer, Deniz ; de la Torre, Augusto ; Heysen, Socorro ; Auqui, Martín ; Calderón, César ; Servén, Luis ; Seelig, Steven A. ; D’Hulster, Katia ; Cortés, Mariano ; Dijkman, Miguel ; Gutierrez, Eva

Since the 1990s, the financial systems in developing and developed countries have gained in soundness, depth, and diversity, prompted in part by a series of financial sector and macroeconomic reforms aimed at fostering a market-driven economy in which finance plays a central role. Latin America has been one of the regions at the forefront of these changes and offers a good laboratory of where the challenges in financial development lie. Despite all the gains in financial development, there is still a nagging contrast between the intensity of financial sector reforms implemented over the past 20 years in many countries and the actual size and depth of their financial systems. In the case of Latin America, in many respects it remains underdeveloped by international comparisons. This book studies in detail the recent history of financial sector development and reforms in Latin America, in comparison to other developing and developed countries, to shed light on the key obstacles for financial development. Rather than going in detail into sector-specific issues, the book focuses on the main architectural issues, overall perspectives, and interconnections. Its value added thus hinges on its holistic view of the development process, its broad coverage of the financial services industry (not just banking), its emphasis on comparisons and benchmarking, its systemic perspective, and its explicit effort to incorporate the lessons from the recent global financial crisis. The book is divided into three main parts. The first presents a stock taking exercise to ascertain where Latin America’s financial development lies—analyzing in more detail some of the reasons and policy implications underlying its banking depth and equity liquidity gaps. The second part revisits two themes that are central to the region’s financial development: long-term finance and the role of the state in risk bearing. The last part of the book deals with issues of regulation and supervision, first taking stock of the progress in the region and then analyzing the challenges faced by Latin America as regards three main facets of systemic oversight: macro-prudential policy, micro-systemic regulation, and systemic supervision. The chapters in this book yield many lessons and raise several issues, constituting an invaluable read for practitioners, policymakers, experts, and students alike in both developed and developing countries.
Financial Development in Latin America and the Caribbean : Stylized Facts and the Road Ahead

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-08) Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

The paper documents the major trends in financial development in Latin America and the Caribbean since the early 1990s. The paper compares trends in Latin America and the Caribbean with those in Asia, Eastern Europe, and advanced countries and compares countries within Latin America and the Caribbean. The findings show that financial systems in the Latin America and the Caribbean region have become more diversified and more complex. In particular, domestic financial systems have become less bank-based, with bond and stock markets playing a larger role; institutional investors have gained some space in channeling domestic savings, thus increasing the availability of funds for investment in capital markets; and several economies in the region have started to reduce currency and maturity mismatches. Nonetheless, a few large companies continue to capture most of the domestic savings. And because these trends have unfolded more slowly than pro-market reformers had envisioned, broad, market-based financial systems with dispersed ownership have yet to materialize fully in the region. As a result, convergence is still largely failing to happen and the region's financial systems remain less developed than those of the advanced economies and several other emerging economies, most notably those in Asia.
How Resilient and Countercyclical Were Emerging Economies to the Global Financial Crisis?

(Elsevier, 2012-12) Didier, Tatiana ; Hevia, Constantino ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

By studying the cross-country incidence of the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, we document a structural break in the way emerging economies responded to the global shock. Contrary to popular perceptions, emerging economies suffered growth collapses (relative to the pre-crisis levels) comparable to those experienced by developed economies, even when they continued growing. Afterwards, most economies returned to their pre-crisis growth rates. Although emerging economies were not able to avoid the collapse originated in the U.S. and then transmitted across countries, they were more resilient during the global crisis than during past crises. Namely, they resumed their higher growth rates earlier and converged more quickly to their pre-crisis growth trend. Moreover, breaking with the past, emerging economies did not fall more than developed economies during the global crisis and were able to conduct countercyclical policies, thus becoming more similar to developed economies.
Financial Development in Asia : Beyond Aggregate Indicators

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-01) Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

This paper documents the major trends in financial development in Asia since the early 1990s and the spillovers to firms. It compares Asia with advanced and emerging countries and uses both aggregate and disaggregate indicators. Financial systems in Asia remain less developed than in advanced countries but more developed than in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Bond and stock markets play a larger role and institutional investors have gained importance. Nonetheless, capital-raising activity has not expanded. A few large companies capture most of the issuances. Many secondary markets remain illiquid. The public sector captures a significant share of bond markets. The largest advancements in Asia occurred in China and India. But still in these countries, few large companies use capital markets to expand and grow, becoming much larger than nonuser firms. In sum, Asia's financial systems remain less developed than aggregate measures suggest, with few spillovers to many firms.
Can Latin America Tap the Globalization Upside?

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-04) de la Torre, Augusto ; Didier, Tatiana ; Pinat, Magali

This paper discusses the theoretical arguments in favor of and against economic globalization and, with a view to ascertaining whether Latin America may be able to capture the globalization upside, examines the trends and salient features of Latin America's globalization as compared with that of Southeast Asia. The paper focuses on trade and financial integration as well as the aggregate demand structures (domestic demand-driven versus external demand-driven) that underpin the globalization process. It finds that Latin America is mitigating some bad side effects of financial globalization by moving toward a safer form of international financial integration and improving its macro-financial policy frameworks. Nonetheless, Latin America's progress in raising the quality of its international trade integration has been scant. The region's commodity-heavy trade structures and relatively poor quality of trade connectivity can hinder growth potential to the extent that they are less conducive to technology and learning spillovers. Moreover, Latin America's domestic demand-driven growth pattern (a reflection of relatively low domestic savings) may become an additional drag to growth by accentuating the risk of a low savings-low external competitiveness trap.
Financial Globalization in Emerging Countries : Diversification vs. Offshoring

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06) Ceballos, Francisco ; Didier, Tatiana ; Schmukler, Sergio L.

Financial globalization has gathered attention since the early 1990s because of its macro-financial implications and growing importance. But financial globalization has taken shape via different forms over time. This paper examines two important, concurrent dimensions of financial globalization: diversification and offshoring. The diversification dimension refers to the increase in foreign assets and liabilities in countries' portfolios. Offshoring is related to the reallocation of financial activities to international markets. The former focuses on who holds the assets, the latter on where transactions take place. The authors find that globalization via the diversification channel expanded throughout the world during the 2000s, as domestic residents invested more abroad and foreigners increased their investments at home, generating more cross-border holdings. However, financial globalization via offshoring displays more mixed patterns, with variations across markets and countries. The paper also shows that the nature of financing through both diversification and offshoring has improved for emerging countries.