FINANCE Global Financial Development Report 2013 Rethinking the Role of the State in Finance
How should we measure and assess financial development around the globe? Why has financial development progressed so quickly in some regions and countries while seriously lagging in other parts of the world? At what point does the financial sector become too large or too complex? What mix of banks, other financial institutions, and financial markets is the best from the broader development perspective? How can healthy competition in the provision of financial services be ensured? Which policies help in supporting robust financial development, and which ones do not? And which ones help in providing people and firms with better access to finance? These are the types of questions that are addressed by this new annual publication from the World Bank Group, the Global Financial Development September 2012. 300 pages. Report 2013. The main theme of this inaugural report is Rethinking ISBN: 978-0-8213-9503-5. US$35 the Role of the State in Finance. Launched exactly four years after the Lehman Brothers failure, the report uses the experience of the global financial crisis to re-examine a basic question: what is the proper role of the state in achieving sustainable financial development? The crisis has challenged conventional thinking on the role of the state, and on financial sector policies. It has led to much debate on how best to achieve sustainable development. Among other things, the crisis has revived the notion that direct state intervention in the financial sector can help maintain stability, drive growth, and create jobs. The report examines this notion as well as the evidence of potentially harmful effects of some forms of the state’s interventions. It also navigates through ideological divides and doctrinaire positions and delivers The Little Data Book on Financial relevant, rigorous policy analyses and advice. DEVELOPMENT 2013
Table of Contents 1. Benchmarking Financial Sector Development Around The World 2. The State as Regulator and Supervisor 3. The Role of the State In Promoting Bank Competition 4. Direct State Interventions 5. The Role of the State in Financial Infrastructure
The Little Data Book on Financial Development 2013 is a pocket edition of the Global Financial Development Database, published as part of the work on the Global Financial Development Report 2013. It contains 38 indicators of financial development in 205 economies, including measures of (1) financial depth, (2) access, (3) efficiency, and (4) stability of financial institutions and markets. Additional variables, historical observations, and links to underlying research are available at www.worldbank.org/financialdevelopment Sept 2012. 176 pages. ISBN: 978-0-8213-9754-1. US$15