Person:
Nenova, Tatiana
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Corporate Governance,
Investment Climate,
Regulatory Economics,
Competitiveness,
Poverty
Degrees
Departments
South Asia
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Tatiana Nenova is a Program Leader for Sri Lanka and Maldives at the World Bank, responsible for Financial Markets, Trade and Competitiveness, Macro and Fiscal, Governance, and Poverty.Her operational work has focused on several financial sector areas of work (capital markets, access to finance for the poor, housing finance, and infrastructure finance and PPPs) as well as Investment climate and institutions, Trade policy and facilitation, and public sector institutions strengthening, and macro / fiscal policy. Before Sri Lanka, she has worked as Program Leader in Indonesia, with the World Bank CFO, as operational staff in South Asia, in the International Finance Corporation and in academia. Dr. Nenova has also published in leading US and international journals and co-created several innovative World Bank publications such as the Doing Business Report. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.
Publication Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
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Publication
Bringing Finance to Pakistan's Poor : Access to Finance for Small Enterprises and the Underserved
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009-11-13)Access to financing is now widely acknowledged as a path to meaningful economic inclusion and reduction in poverty. Policy efforts to increase access to finance in Pakistan have taken time to bear fruit, but now access is indeed expanding quickly in certain financial sectors (microfinance, remittances), albeit from a very low base. Nevertheless, policy measures cannot single-handedly increase financial access; financial institutions' willingness to expand access in Pakistan has been stinted by slow technologic advances, weak legal foundations, and unsuitable financial processes and products. Poor socioeconomic conditions, gender bias, and low levels of basic education and financial literacy remain barriers, but perhaps the single strongest driver of low demand for financial access has been income. The primary purpose of this study is to measure and describe the state of financial service provision to underserved segments of the market in Pakistan, particularly those with low incomes and small enterprises, and to identify ways to improve investment and create inclusive markets that meet the needs of underserved people and enterprises. -
Publication
Who Owns the Media?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-06)The authors examine patterns of media ownership in 97 countries around the world. They find that almost universally the largest media firms are controlled by the government or by private families. Government ownership is more pervasive in broadcasting than in the printed media. Government ownership is generally associated with less press freedom, fewer political and economic rights, inferior governance, and, most conspicuously, inferior social outcomes in education and health. The adverse effects of government ownership on political and economic freedom are stronger for newspapers than for television. The adverse effects of government ownership of the media do not appear to be restricted solely to instances of government monopoly. The authors present a range of evidence on the adverse consequences of state ownership of the media. State ownership of the media is often argued to be justified on behalf of the social needs of the disadvantaged. But if their findings are correct, increasing private ownership of the media--through privatization or by encouraging the entry of privately owned media--can advance a variety of political and economic goals, especially those of meeting the social needs of the poor. -
Publication
Corporate Risk around the World
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-01)Weaknesses in the corporate sector have increasingly been cited as important factors in financial crises in both emerging markets and industrial countries. Analysts have pointed to weak corporate performance and risky financing patterns as major causes of the East Asian financial crisis. And some have argued that company balance sheet problems may also have played a role, independent of macroeconomic or other weaknesses, including poor corporate sector performance. But little is known about the empirical importance of firm financing choices in predicting and explaining financial instability. Firm financing patterns have long been studied by the corporate finance literature. Financing patterns have traditionally been analyzed in the Modigliani-Miller framework, expanded to incorporate taxes and bankruptcy costs. More recently, asymmetric information issues have drawn attention to agency costs and their impact on firm financing choices. There is also an important literature relating financing patterns to firm performance and governance. Several recent studies have focused on identifying systematic cross-country differences in firm financing patterns - and the effects of these differences on financial sector development and economic growth. They have also examined the causes of different financing patterns, particularly countries' legal and institutional environments. The literature has devoted little attention to corporate sector risk characteristics, however, aside from leverage and debt maturity considerations. Even these measures have been the subject of few empirical investigations, mainly because of a paucity of data on corporate sectors around the world. Building on data that have recently become available, the authors try to fill this gap in the literature and shed light on the risk characteristics of corporate sectors around the world. They investigate how corporate sectors' financial and operating structures relate to the institutional environment in which they operate, using data for more than 11,000 firms in 46 countries. They show that: 1) the origins of a country's laws, the strength of its equity and creditor rights, and the nature of its financial system can account for the degree of corporate risk-taking. 2) In particular, corporations in common law countries and market-based financial systems have less risky financing patterns. 3) Stronger protection of equity and creditor rights is also associated with less financial risk. -
Publication
Takeover Laws and Financial Development
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-10)The issue of "an appropriate" legal framework, especially in the case of the takeover market, has been poorly studied in the case of emerging markets, yet it is of immediate relevance and practical policymaker interest. The study makes a first attempt to analyze takeover regulations in a comparative context across 50 countries. It proposes a methodology to create a detailed index on the most salient features of capital market laws, and illustrates the approach on the case of takeover legislation. The methodology allows better understanding of the impact of laws on markets and development, allows a detailed quantification of a given regulation, in this case takeover market rules, and helps determine relevant policy implications. Specifically, the framework permits the exploration of the effects of individual regulations, their substitutability and interplay, as well as the overall extent of friendliness of the laws to investors, or particular groups thereof (such as minority shareholders), and the links of specialized regulation with the overall legal system. Finally, the study explores the effect of the investor-friendliness of takeover laws on stock market development. -
Publication
Anarchy and Invention : How Does Somalia’s Private Sector Cope without Government?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-09)Somalia has lacked a recognized government since 1991. In extremely difficult conditions the private sector has demonstrated its much vaunted capability to make do. To cope with the absence of the rule of law, private enterprises have been using foreign jurisdictions or institutions to help with some tasks, operating within networks of trust to strengthen property rights, and simplifying transactions until they require neither. Somalia's private sector experience suggests that it may be easier than is commonly thought for basic systems of finance and some infrastructure services to function where government is extremely weak or absent. -
Publication
Self-Dealing : Sneaking Corporate Value through the Back Door
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-09)Self-dealing, prevalent in emerging markets, often harms minority shareholders. The related-party transaction is one common technique, especially in markets with weak law enforcement. Beyond self-dealing, other methods of expropriation, such as insider trading and dilution of share value, can also harm minorities. Countries can use several tactics to combat self-dealing, including improving disclosure, strengthening regulatory enforcement, and increasing public awareness of good governance and investor rights. While not always successful, these measures often go a long way toward protecting minority investors. -
Publication
Expanding Housing Finance to the Underserved in South Asia : Market Review and Forward Agenda
(World Bank, 2010)Expanding housing finance to the underserved in South Asia, a first regional effort on the topic, examines housing needs and shortages in South Asia, and outlines shortcomings of the market for home mortgages. The primary purpose of this book is to pull together housing and housing finance information for the countries of South Asia. Housing and housing finance data have been scarce in most countries in the region, preventing policy makers, private sector businesses, and financial sector stakeholders from enabling and improving these markets. The book presents illustrations of best practices and country-specific examples that can enable builder/ developers, mortgage lenders, and land administrators to create foreclosure and other relevant regulations that will strengthen home ownership in South Asia. Special emphasis is accorded to innovative solutions for low-income housing. Finally, the book draws attention to regional challenges to efficient and effective housing and housing finance markets and suggests an agenda for the future.