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The relationship between financial development and economic growth has been subjected to several debates by various authors. It has been argued that a competitive and efficient financial sector is a prerequisite for economic growth and development. The objective of this study therefore is to examine the relationship between bank competition and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1986 – 2...

This paper provides an overview of salient characteristics of the Japanese local government system paying special attention to the following: (a) the strong preference for regional balance in fiscal transfer rules; (b) the lack of systematic influence by individual politicians in grant allocations; (c) the practice of exchanging staff across different levels of government; (d) the use of attrac...

Drawing from the encouragement of Prof. Norman Uphoff to start SRI in Kenya, the first meeting to plan and introduce SRI was held at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in July 2009, organized by Prof. Bancy Mati of JKUAT and Markus Moeller (then the Irrigation Specialist at the World Bank office in Kenya). The two drew together some like-minded individuals to form a collaborative team comprised of staf...

Urban and Local Government Working Papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's work to the development community with the least possible delay. The typescript of this paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with the procedures appropriate to formal printed texts, and the World Bank accepts no responsibility for errors. Some sources cited in this paper may be inform...

Urban and Local Government Working Papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's work to the development community with the least possible delay. The typescript of this paper therefore has not been prepared in accordance with the procedures appropriate to formal printed texts, and the World Bank accepts no responsibility for errors. Some sources cited in this paper may be inform...

The World Bank has recently redirected its urban policies, moving from a focus raising productivity of the housing sector, to one that encourages ‘sustainable cities’. The expansion of the urban agenda hopes to improve urban governance while also building human capital through poverty alleviation programmes such as squatter upgrading. By promoting the discourse of ‘sustainable city’, the World ...

John Friedmann is Professor Emeritus at UCLA and currently lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. His most recent book, co-edited with Mike Douglass, is Cities for Citizens: Planning and the Rise of Civil Society in a Global Age (Wiley,l998). His current work revolves around the theory of citizenship, metropolitan governance, urbanization in Asia, and the problem ofrepresentation in planning....

Theory makes ambiguous predictions about the effects of bank market structure on access to external finance. Using a unique database for 74 countries and for firms of small, medium and large size we assess the effect of banking market structure on the access of firms to bank finance. We find that bank concentration increases financing obstacles, but only in countries with low levels of economic...

The banking industry in Nigeria has been faced with enormous challenges that affect performance, management, and reliability. There are 24 banks in Nigeria today. These banks are referred to as consolidated banks. They emerged after the recapitalisation initiative of the central bank of Nigeria in 2005. Specifically, the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised the minimum capital requirement for e...