This paper investigates the effects of bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability, using an empirical framework that incorporates the traditional Structure-Conduct- Performance (SCP) hypothesis. A panel data approach has been adopted and effectively applied to six Greek banks. The evidence generated suggests that for any consistent or systematic size the profitability relationship is relatively weak. Most of the bank-specific determinants were found to significantly affect bank profitability. A more ambiguous picture emerged when the macroeconomic factors were considered

In this paper we report on a composite index of international patent systems strength for 48 developing and industrialized countries annually from 1998 to 2011. Building upon earlier indices we develop a conceptual framework informed by transaction cost theory and derive measures which emphasize the importance of enforcement-related aspects of the patent system of countries. Findings reveal harmonization of the regulative aspects of patent protection internationally in the post-TRIPs era but not of overall national patent systems. The index should inform studies on the relationship between national patent systems and a range of international business and other phenomena.

Historically, the development of the financial sector has been an indispensable driver of economic growth. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, there is a pressing need to reassess the role of the financial sector in the determination of economic growth. Using a dynamic panel framework, our analysis covers 34 European and Commonwealth of Independent States economies for the period 1998–2014 and controls for the role of macroeconomic and institutional variables. Our evidence suggests that the potential benefits of the financial sector finance may have dramatically reversed in recent years, resulting in “un‐creative destruction.” The results suggest, tentatively, that there has been a severance of the link between the financial sector and the real economy. The results, however, vary according to the level of economic development across the European and Commonwealth of Independent States economies. In the case of developing market economies, the financial intermediation proxies are not significant in explaining economic growth. The effect of changes in investment expenditure, the money supply, wages, unit labour costs, and trade openness is found to be strong and in line with a priori expectations across all country samples. Notably, government consumption is also found to be a significant driver of economic growth, except in the developing market economies in the period following the Great Recession. In line with the growing consensus in other research areas, we provide evidence of a robust role for the institutional framework proxied by the quality of governance in determining economic development.

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This study aims to explore the extent to which conventional methods used in the majority of relevant growth studies can successfully interpret the economic performance of a highly underdeveloped African country such as Sudan. Applying an ARDL boundstesting approach to cointegration proposed by Pesaran et al. (2001), we look into the short-run as well as long-run relationships between institutional and various other key economic variables and economic growth over the period 1972-2008. The empirical results obtained suggest that, for the Sudanese economy, the quality of the institutional environment is one of the most important factors in defining economic prosperity.