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The core principles of Islam lay great emphasis on social justice, inclusion, and sharing of resources between the haves and the have nots. Islamic finance addresses the issue of "financial inclusion" or "access to finance" from two directions - one through promoting risk-sharing contracts that provide a viable alternative to conventional debt-based financing, and the other through specific instruments of redistribution of the wealth among the society. Use of risk-sharing financing instruments can offer Shariah-compliant microfinance, financing for small and medium enterprises, and micro-insurance to enhance access to finance. And redistributive instruments such as Zakah, Sadaqat, Waqf, and Qard-al-hassan complement risk-sharing instruments to target the poor sector of society to offer a comprehensive approach to eradicating poverty and to build a healthy and vibrant economy. Instruments offered by Islam have strong historical roots and have been applied throughout history in various Muslim communities. The paper identifies gaps currently existing in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries on each front, that is, Shariah-compliant micro-finance and financing for small and medium enterprises and the state of traditional redistributive instruments. The paper concludes that Islam offers a rich set of instruments and unconventional approaches, which, if implemented in true spirit, can lead to reduced poverty and inequality in Muslim countries plagued by massive poverty. Therefore, policy makers in Muslim countries who are serious about enhancing access to finance or "financial inclusion" should exploit the potential of Islamic instruments to achieve this goal and focus on improving the regulatory and financial infrastructure to promote an enabling environment.

Access to Finance --- Banks & Banking Reform --- Debt Markets --- Emerging Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial inclusion --- Islamic Finance --- Risk sharing

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Financial globalization, defined as global linkages through cross-border financial flows, has become increasingly relevant for emerging markets as they integrate financially with the rest of the world. This paper argues that, because of the way it is often measured, it has also led to the misperception that financial globalization in emerging markets has been growing in recent years. The authors characterize the evolution of financial globalization in emerging markets using alternative measures, and find that, in the 2000s, financial globalization has grown only marginally and international portfolio diversification has been limited and declining over time. The paper revisits the empirical literature on the implications of financial globalization for local market deepening, international risk diversification, financial contagion, and financial dollarization, and finds them to be rather limited. Whereas financial globalization has indeed fostered domestic market deepening in good times, it has yielded neither the dividends of consumption smoothing (in line with limited portfolio diversification) nor the costs of amplifying global financial shocks. In turn, financial de-dollarization has largely reflected the undoing of financial offshoring and the valuation effects of real appreciation.

Currencies and Exchange Rates --- Debt Markets --- Economic Theory & Research --- Emerging Markets --- Financial Development --- Financial Globalization --- Financial Stability --- International Economics & Trade --- International Finance --- Mutual Funds --- Portfolio Risk Sharing --- Systemic Currency Mismatches

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This paper investigates the short-run consumption expenditure dynamics and the interaction of public and private arrangements of ultra-poor and labor-constrained households in Malawi using an original dataset from the Mchinjii social cash transfer pilot project (one of the first experiments of social protection policies based on unconditional cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa). The authors exploit the unique source of exogenous variation provided by the randomized component of the program in order to isolate the effect of cash transfers on consumption expenditures as well as the net crowding out effect of cash transfers on private arrangements. They find a statistically significant reduction effect on the level of consumption expenditures for those households receiving cash transfers, thus leading to the rejection of the perfect risk sharing hypothesis. Moreover, by looking at the effects of cash transfers on private arrangements in a context characterized by imperfect enforceability of contracts and by a social fabric heavily compromised by high HIV/AIDS rates, the analysis confirms the presence of crowding out effects on private arrangements when looking at gifts and (to a lesser extent) remittances, while informal loans seem to be completely independent from the cash transfer's reception. From a policy perspective, the paper offers a contribution to the evaluation of the very recent wave of social protection policies based on (unconditional) cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that there might be an important role for public interventions aimed at helping households to pool risk more effectively.

Cash transfers --- Consumption --- Debt Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- HIV-AIDS --- Labor Policies --- Private Sector Development --- Risk sharing --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Safety Nets and Transfers --- Services & Transfers to Poor --- Africa --- Malawi

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This paper investigates the short-run consumption expenditure dynamics and the interaction of public and private arrangements of ultra-poor and labor-constrained households in Malawi using an original dataset from the Mchinjii social cash transfer pilot project (one of the first experiments of social protection policies based on unconditional cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa). The authors exploit the unique source of exogenous variation provided by the randomized component of the program in order to isolate the effect of cash transfers on consumption expenditures as well as the net crowding out effect of cash transfers on private arrangements. They find a statistically significant reduction effect on the level of consumption expenditures for those households receiving cash transfers, thus leading to the rejection of the perfect risk sharing hypothesis. Moreover, by looking at the effects of cash transfers on private arrangements in a context characterized by imperfect enforceability of contracts and by a social fabric heavily compromised by high HIV/AIDS rates, the analysis confirms the presence of crowding out effects on private arrangements when looking at gifts and (to a lesser extent) remittances, while informal loans seem to be completely independent from the cash transfer's reception. From a policy perspective, the paper offers a contribution to the evaluation of the very recent wave of social protection policies based on (unconditional) cash transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that there might be an important role for public interventions aimed at helping households to pool risk more effectively.

Cash transfers --- Consumption --- Debt Markets --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- HIV-AIDS --- Labor Policies --- Private Sector Development --- Risk sharing --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Safety Nets and Transfers --- Services & Transfers to Poor --- Africa --- Malawi

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Financial globalization, defined as global linkages through cross-border financial flows, has become increasingly relevant for emerging markets as they integrate financially with the rest of the world. This paper argues that, because of the way it is often measured, it has also led to the misperception that financial globalization in emerging markets has been growing in recent years. The authors characterize the evolution of financial globalization in emerging markets using alternative measures, and find that, in the 2000s, financial globalization has grown only marginally and international portfolio diversification has been limited and declining over time. The paper revisits the empirical literature on the implications of financial globalization for local market deepening, international risk diversification, financial contagion, and financial dollarization, and finds them to be rather limited. Whereas financial globalization has indeed fostered domestic market deepening in good times, it has yielded neither the dividends of consumption smoothing (in line with limited portfolio diversification) nor the costs of amplifying global financial shocks. In turn, financial de-dollarization has largely reflected the undoing of financial offshoring and the valuation effects of real appreciation.

Currencies and Exchange Rates --- Debt Markets --- Economic Theory & Research --- Emerging Markets --- Financial Development --- Financial Globalization --- Financial Stability --- International Economics & Trade --- International Finance --- Mutual Funds --- Portfolio Risk Sharing --- Systemic Currency Mismatches