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Working Paper
From indoctrination to the culture of change: technological progress, adaptive skills, and the creativity of nations
We distinguish learning in a static environment from that in a dynamic environment to show the existence of an important interaction between the development of new technologies and human capital accumulation. Since technological progress creates a more dynamic and uncertain environment, it not only increases the rewards to education and ability but also enhances adaptive skills. The latter in turn determine how effectively new technologies are utilized in production because they help the workforce to innovate and improve new technologies. Thus, the adaptive skills of a workforce are an ...
Working Paper
Alternatives in human capital accumulation: implications for economic growth
This paper demonstrates that considering alternative means of human capital accumulation, such as learning-by-doing, overturns the presumption that formal education is unconditionally beneficial for economic growth. It analyzes a model in which the average level of human capital creates externalities in future human capital accumulation and individuals can augment their human capital with work experience or education. The model shows that in the early stages of development, education enhances growth by creating a positive externality, and, in later stages, it may depress growth by leading to ...
Working Paper
Income inequality and macroeconomic fluctuations
When per capita income is low, increases in income inequality make macroeconomic cycles less severe. We present a model in which access to credit is based on earnings potential. If low as well as middle income individuals are credit constrained, increases in income inequality lead to smaller fluctuations in aggregate consumption and output. Empirical evidence from cross-country data supports the view that greater income inequality causes lower variation of real consumption and output growth in low income countries. When per capita income is high, however, this effect is reversed.
Working Paper
Gender and Professional Networks on Bank Boards
Women are underrepresented on bank boards. Using a newly compiled dataset of bank board membership over the 1999-2018 period, we find that within-board professional networks are extensive, but female board members are significantly less connected than male directors, both in number and length of connections. We also find that professional networks play an important role in determining the appointment of bank board directors. Connections also positively impact compensation for female directors, especially connections to other women. These results suggest that there are differences in the ...
Working Paper
Finance and macroeconomic volatility
Countries with more developed financial sectors experience less fluctuation in the growth of real per capita output, consumption and investment. However, the manner in which the financial sector develops matters. The relative importance of banks in the financial system is important in explaining consumption and investment volatility, and the proportion of credit provided to the private sector explains the volatility of consumption and output. The main results are generated using fixed-effects estimation with panel data from 70 countries covering the years 1956 through 1998.
Journal Article
Profits and balance sheet developments at U.S. commercial banks in 1996
U.S. commercial banks had another very good year in 1996. Profits posted strong growth, preserving the high levels of return on equity and return on assets that have prevailed over the past four years. Helping to boost profits were continued strong growth of interest-earning assets, a slight widening of the net interest margin, significant gains in noninterest income, and continued containment of noninterest expenses. Return on assets edged up despite a slight increase in provisioning for loan and lease losses relative to assets. Delinquency and charge-off rates stayed low for business loans ...
Discussion Paper
Gender Diversity on Bank Board of Directors and Performance
Many papers have studied the effects of boards' gender composition on firm performance and a few have studied it in the banking industry specifically. In this Note, we study this issue using a newly compiled annual dataset on bank boards and financial performance.
Working Paper
A Global Lending Channel Unplugged? Does U.S. Monetary Policy Affect Cross-border and Affiliate Lending by Global U.S. Banks?
We examine how U.S. monetary policy affects the international activities of U.S. Banks. We access a rarely studied U.S. bank-level regulatory dataset to assess at a quarterly frequency how changes in the U.S. Federal funds rate (before the crisis) and quantitative easing (after the onset of the crisis) affects changes in cross-border claims by U.S. banks across countries, maturities and sectors, and also affects changes in claims by their foreign affiliates. We find robust evidence consistent with the existence of a potent global bank lending channel. In response to changes in U.S. monetary ...
Working Paper
Risk, entrepreneurship and human capital accumulation
Entrepreneurial human capital plays a relatively more important role in intermediate income countries, but professional human capital is relatively more abundant in richer economies. Because the return to entrepreneurship is risky, individuals devote less time to the accumulation of entrepreneurial skills and more to the accumulation of professional skills as per capita income grows. Countries that initially have too little of either entrepreneurial or professional skills may end up in a development trap. The steady state may be characterized by either too much or too little education.
Working Paper
Gender and Social Networks on Bank Boards
We examine the effect of the social networks of bank directors on board gender diversity and compensation using a unique, newly compiled dataset over the 1999-2018 period. We find that within-board social networks are extensive, but there are significant differences in the size and gender composition of social networks of male vs female bank directors. We also find that samegender networks play an important role in determining the gender composition of bank boards. Finally, we show that those connected to male directors receive higher compensation, but we find no evidence that connections to ...