Suchergebnisse

Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) are a major challenge to Africas democratic governance. They have a direct impact on a countrys stability to raise, retain and mobilize its own resources to finance sustainable economic development. GFI (2017) finds that IFFs remain persistently high. The study finds that over the period between 2005 and 2014, IFFs on average accounted for between 14.1 percent and 24.0 percent of the total developing country trade, while outflows were estimated at 4.6 percent to 7.2 percent of total trade and inflows were between 9.5 percent and 16.8 percent. The problem with IFFs is that they are not only illicit but that their effect spreads far beyond their immediate area of occurrence. Millions of people are affected, economies are weakened, and development is stagnated, while a shady few accumulate wealth and influence. Financial flows are crucial for poor countries and have played an important role in most African countries that have made developmental progress. Since not all financial flows are good for development, the integration of poor countries into the global financial system poses opportunities as well as risks. IFFs usually facilitate most of these risks and have an overall negative impact on African countries.

Official estimates of migrants' remittances are around US$100 billion annually, with some 60 per cent going to developing countries. Any policy making use of migrants as a development resource must understand the size and allocation of remittances, and the roles played by migrants and their communities in the remittance process. This paper examines the flows of remittances in relation to other financial flows to developing countries. The examination is based on data available from official statistics. As discussed in the paper, remittances by unofficial channels are significant by all accounts so the remittance amounts reported here are quite conservative.The paper shows that annual remittances to developing countries have more than doubled between 1988 and 1999. Viewed over the last decade, remittances have been a much larger source of income for developing countries than official development assistance (ODA). The gap is increasing, since ODA has been falling while remittances have increased. Furthermore, remittances appear to be a much more stable source of income than private flows, both direct and portfolio, which tend to be more volatile and flow into a limited set of countries.Remittances to developing countries go first and foremost to lower middleincome and low–income countries. Lower middle–income countries receive the largest amounts, but remittances constitute a much higher share of total international flows to low–income countries. Of the ten countries receiving most remittances, two are low–income (India and Pakistan); six are lower middle–income (Philippines, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Thailand, and Jordan); and two are upper middle–income (Mexico and Brazil).Sub–Saharan Africa received some 8 per cent of remittances in 1980, but only some 4 per cent in 1999. South Asia's share also declined from what was already a relatively high 34 to 24 per cent. Those who gained most were Eastern Europe and Central Asia, South and Central America, and the Caribbean, which increased their share of global remittances.

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics ; This paper examines the response of international investors to country fiscal outcomes and the dynamics of this response according to the type of government that is in power. The issue is examined with a model that has been estimated using data from 22 OECD countries for the period of 1998 through 2008. International financial flows are highly heterogeneous and this paper finds different effects depending on the type of flow. The results of this paper suggest that an increase in government expenses increase the level of FDI and an increase in government revenues decrease the level of FDI. The evidence produced in the model also suggests that Majority governments have a negative impact on the level of the three types of capital flows.

Using country level panel data over the period 1970–2011, this paper evaluates the direct as well as indirect impact of three types of financial flows (foreign direct investment, remittances and official development aid) on the per capita income of a group of low and middle income countries. The empirical results suggest that the direct effect of official development aid in developing countries is mostly negative. This conclusion also holds when the sample is divided into different regions. All three estimation techniques used (i.e., Ordinary Least Squares, panel fixed effects and system Generalised Method of Moments) yield broadly similar results. We find that official development aid and government spending are complementary and hence, depending on the level of effectiveness of government spending programs, official development aid can have an indirect positive impact on income per capita. On the other hand, both remittances and foreign direct investment appear to have a direct positive and statistically significant effect on per capita income.

AbstractThis paper is part of a broader agenda and constitutes a first step to empirically understand the main determinants of the interprovincial trade in Argentina. We use a novel database of regional trade among the 24 Argentinean subnational jurisdictions for 2017. Using a structural gravity model and novel econometric techniques, we analyze the variables influencing trade between the provinces. In addition to the traditional variables of the canonical gravity model, we add some variables of interest that can affect trade between subnational jurisdictions. With a special focus on financial flows, we analyze the impact of the fiscal federalism (redistributive transfers known as coparticipation), income distribution, and household payment methods, among other variables that may be correlated with formal trade. Additionally, we analyze the potential impact of trade concentration in the autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) and Buenos Aires. Interprovincial trade flows are analyzed, considering both origin and destination provinces. The results indicate that coparticipation flows are an important determinant of interprovincial trade, generating relevant (and negative in the origin) spillover effects between the provinces. Also, the high economic and social concentration in CABA and Buenos Aires discourages interprovincial trade.

African countries have experienced modest economic recovery during the 1990s. But these countries are caught in a vicious circle in which the existing economic structure cannot generate enough savings and export earnings needed to finance their development and mount a sustained assault on widespread poverty. Yet foreign aid has been cut back sharply and the continent receives only a trickle of foreign investment flows. New policy regimes are now in place, creating the right environment for external financing to make a major difference. Development finance is one of the foremost challenges facing African countries and the international community in the new century.