This research seeks to identify the factors that account for the variation in development levels across nations by focusing on the institutional components of development, especially the effects of financial market development on economic and political development. I argue that financial market...

A well-developed financial intermediation industry increases domestic savings, efficiently allocates investment resources to the most productive uses in the economy and increases the rate of economic growth. In the Soviet economy the banking system served as a means of collecting household...

Focuses on financing tools and program models to support local economic development. Includes an overview of private capital markets and financing sources to understand capital market imperfections that constrain economic development; business accounting; financial statement analysis; federal...

The financial crisis of 2008 had systemic implications in the financial services industry spilling over into sectors such as the leverage loan market. I use regression analysis between two data sets (before and after the crisis) to understand the determinants of loan spreads for corporate loans...

This paper investigates whether corporate political influence affects government investment decisions. We study the efficacy of the various forms of political influence, ranging from the relatively passive connections between firms and politicians, such as those based on politicians’ voting...

We study the effect of government assistance on bank risk taking. Using hand-collected data on bank applications for government investment funds, we investigate the effect of both application approvals and denials. To distinguish banks? risk taking behavior from changes in economic conditions,...

This dissertation includes three essays on decision-making by boundedly rational economic agents. The first essay deals with decision-making by firms where decision-making is costly. The other two essays deal with decision-making by individuals. Taken together, the last two argue that...

The thesis shows two possible ways in which intergenerational redistributions associated with a reform from a comprehensive income tax to a direct consumption tax are affected when the standard models studying this phenomenon are extended.The usual models studying the welfare impact of a direct...