2009-02: Law and banking development in a South Pacific island economy: The case of Fiji, 1970-2006 (Working paper)
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Nguyen, Tom
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Nguyen, Tom
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This paper examines the applicability of the prominent Law-Finance theory to banking development in Fiji, a representative island economy in the South Pacific region. Secondary and primary data are used to assess legal institutions and the level of development in the banking sector in Fiji (and, where possible, in other South Pacific island economies) in comparison with up to 53 other countries, both developed and developing. The paper also re-examines the question of a possible Law-Banking Development connection internationally, in light of newly available data and a newly proposed composite index of banking development. The results are consistent with previous findings of a direct relationship between law enforcement quality and banking development, but they also suggest that the legal rules codifying creditor rights may not be as influential as had been thought previously. The latter result accords with the experience of Fiji, where very weak legal rules combined with average law enforcement quality (and high accounting standards) yield a reasonable performance in terms of banking development over the 1970-2006 period. The paper also points out some possible policy implications of these results.
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Copyright © 2010 by author(s). No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior permission of the author(s).
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Economics and Business Statistics
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Subject
G18 - General Financial Markets: Government Policy and Regulation
G21 - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
O16 - Economic Development: Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
K40 - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior: General
O57 - Comparative Studies of Countries
Fiji
banking development
Law enforcement quality
Creditor rights
Law and finance
South Pacific islands