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Corporate governance deals with the ways in which the rights of outside suppliers of equity finance to corporations are protected and receive a fair return. Good practices reduce the risk of expropriation of outsiders by insiders and thus the cost of capital for issuers. Capaul and Fremond review the experience of the preparation of 15 corporate governance country assessments across five continents. The assessments have been prepared under the umbrella of the joint World Bank/IMF initiative of the "Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes" (ROSCs). The assessments focus on the rights of shareholders, the equitable treatment of shareholders, the role of stakeholders, disclosure and transparency, and the duties of the board of listed companies, and use the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance as benchmark. The authors give an overview of the actual and potential contribution of the assessments to policy dialogue, diagnostic and strategic work, lending and nonlending operations, and technical assistance and capacity, and presents the unfinished agenda. This paper-a product of the Corporate Governance Unit, Private Sector Advisory Services Department-is part of a larger effort in the department to disseminate lessons learned in the assessment of the compliance of countries to global standards. The authors may be contacted at ofremond@worldbank.org or mcapaul@worldbank.org.
Access To Capital --- Bank Policy --- Banks and Banking Reform --- Capacity Building --- Capital Allocation --- Corporate Governance --- Corporate Law --- Debt Markets --- Emerging Markets --- Equity --- Exchange --- Finance --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Good --- Governance --- Governance Indicators --- International Financial Institutions --- Law and Development --- Lending --- Market --- Microfinance --- National Governance --- Private Sector Development --- Prof Profits --- Property --- Property Rights --- Return --- Risk of Expropriation --- Shareholders --- Transparency
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November 1999 - While macroeconomic reforms are necessary, firms' investment response is likely to remain limited without an accompanying improvement in public sector performance. Investment rates in Uganda are similar to others in Africa - averaging slightly more than 10 percent annually, with a median value of just under 1 percent. But the country's profit rates are considerably lower. These results are consistent with the view that Ugandan firms display more confidence in the economy than their counterparts in other African countries. Thus, for given profit rates, Ugandan firms invest more. At the same time, increased competition (because of economic liberalization) has exerted pressure on firms to cut costs. Many of those costs are not under the firms' control, however, so their profits have suffered. Using firm-level data, Reinikka and Svensson identify and quantify a number of cost factors, including those associated with transport, corruption, and utility services. Several factors - including crime, erratic infrastructure services, and arbitrary tax administration - not only increase firms' operating costs but affect their perceptions of the risks of investing in (partly) irreversible capital. The empirical analysis suggests that firms - especially small firms - are liquidity-constrained in the sense that they invest only when sufficient internal funds are available. But given the firms' profit-capital ratio, it is hard to argue that the liquidity constraint is binding in most cases, even though the cost of capital is perceived as a problem. This paper - a joint product of Macroeconomics 2, Africa Region, and Public Economics and Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to study economic policy, public service delivery, and growth. The authors may be contacted at rreinikka@worldbank.org or jsvensson@worldbank.org.
Banks and Banking Reform --- Capital Investment --- Debt Markets --- Economic Liberalization --- Economic Theory and Research --- Emerging Markets --- Finance --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Financial Support --- Future --- Good --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Investing --- Investment --- Investment and Investment Climate --- Investment Rates --- Labor Policies --- Liquidity --- Liquidity Constraint --- Macroeconomic Management --- Macroeconomic Policies --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Microfinance --- Non Bank Financial Institutions --- Private Investment --- Private Participation in Infrastructure --- Private Sector Development --- Prof Profits --- Public Investment --- Return --- Share --- Social Protections and Labor --- Tax
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This paper shows empirically that "privatization" in the energy, telecommunications, and water sectors, and the introduction of independent regulators in those sectors, have not always had the expected effects on access, affordability, or quality of services. It also shows that corruption leads to adjustments in the quantity, quality, and price of services consistent with the profit-maximizing behavior that one would expect from monopolies in the sector. The results suggest that privatization and the introduction of independent regulators have, at best, only partial effects on the consequences of corruption for access, affordability, and quality of utility services.
Data --- Data Analysis --- Databases --- E-Business --- Electricity --- Emerging Markets --- Energy --- Energy Production and Transportation --- ICT Policy and Strategies --- Information --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure Regulation --- International Telecommunications --- Mobile Phones --- Performance --- Performance Indicators --- Poverty Monitoring and Analysis --- Poverty Reduction --- Price --- Prices --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Participation --- Prof Profits --- Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measures --- Public Sector Economics and Finance --- Quality of Services --- Result --- Results --- Social Accountability --- Social Development --- Technology --- Telecommunications --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation
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