Financialisation And Poverty Alleviation In Ghana

Francis Frimpong argues that the exponential growth of finance and credit infrastructures in Ghana did not alleviate poverty in the country. It has, however, resulted in rising financial profits, financialising poverty and stagnating the real sector of the economy

Since the inception of the HIPC Initiative, the story of the design and implementation of poverty alleviation strategies has largely been told through the filters of development partners and the Bretton Woods Institutions. Poverty Reduction Strategies in Action examines the efforts in Ghana to reduce poverty and initiate changes that it believes are essential to ensure a prosperous future for its citizens in the 21st century. It chronicles the achievements, pitfalls, and looming challenges of a government, its people, and its external partners in fashioning out and implementing anti-poverty and pro-growth policies. This edited volume, by a group of independent researchers, examines Ghana's experience: what was done, how it was done, what was left undone, the lessons learned, and fills the void in the development literature.

Housing finance markets have been changing dramatically in both emerging and developed economies. On the one hand, housing finance markets are expanding and represent a powerful engine for economic growth in many emerging economies. However, the unfolding sub-prime mortgage crisis highlights the risks and potential turbulence that this sector can introduce into the financial system when expanding without proper infrastructure and regulation. As housing finance keeps growing in emerging economies to match a rising demand for housing, new risk management approaches, business models, funding tools, and policy instruments can help. Yet many questions remain about the right balance between innovation and regulation, the extent of risks to the financial system, the appropriate role of the state to promote affordable housing, and the effects of the sub-prime crisis. This book provides a guide for policymakers dealing with housing finance in emerging markets. It highlights the prerequisites for an effective housing finance system; it lays out several policy alternatives and models of housing finance; and it explores the role of governments in expanding access to housing finance for lower-income households. There is no "best" model set out in this book. The aim is to provide a developmental roadmap that can be tailored and sequenced to each country's situation and timing.

The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Sanctions examines the core issues and debates surrounding this controversial topic, introducing readers to essential concepts and terms. It communicates the evolving character of international sanctions from diverse perspectives, with a particular emphasis on questions of efficacy, legality, and legitimacy of sanctions, as well as the mechanisms by which they are applied. This interdisciplinary book explores the international political economy of sanctions in the constantly changing context of geopolitical rivalry. The authors investigate various theoretical and historical approaches to sanctions and apply these to specific case studies, such as the African Union, China, Cuba, India, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. The book gives a voice to sanctioned states and considers the impact of secondary sanctions. It analyses sanctions with reference to wider political debates such as national security, state sovereignty, economic warfare, and sustainability. This handbook will be of immense interest to students, researchers, and scholars in the fields of political economy, international sanctions, political science, international relations, and foreign policy. It will also be useful for all those employed by political institutions, businesses, and nongovernmental organisations when assessing current sanctions regimes.

Migrants have long faced unwarranted constraints to sending money to family members and relatives in their home countries, among them costly fees and commissions, inconvenient formal banking hours, and inefficient domestic banking services that delay final payment to the beneficiaries. Yet such remittances are perhaps the largest source of external finance in developing countries. Officially recorded remittance flows to developing countries exceeded US$125 billion in 2004, making them the second largest source of development finance after foreign direct investment. This book demonstrates that governments in developing countries increasingly recognize the importance of remittance flows and are quickly addressing these constraints.

This book is the thirteenth volume in the International Papers in Political Economy (IPPE) series which explores the latest developments in political economy. A collection of eight papers, the book concentrates on the deregulation of domestic financial markets and discusses financial liberalisation in terms of its past performance, current progress and future developments. The chapters have been written by expert contributors in the field and focus on topics such as past records of financial liberalisation, future policies of regulation, and current account imbalances. Other papers examine capital account regulations in developing and emerging countries, and capital controls in the Eurozone after the 2007 financial crisis. This collection of papers invites readers to consider the impact of financial liberalisation both during and after the global economic crisis. Scholars and students with an interest in political economy, financialisation, and economic performance will find this collection stimulating and informative.

This book discusses ideas for stakeholders to develop strategies to access and use financial products and services such as deposits, loans, and fund transfer mechanism, insurance, payment services, and intermediaries, distribution channels at economical prices in order to cater to the needs of the poor and underprivileged people. Financial inclusion ensures ease of access, availability, and usage of the financial products and services to all the sections of the society. The book will help in recognizing the role of financial inclusion as one of the main drivers in reducing income inequality and thus supporting sustainable economic growth of the countries, especially of an emerging economy. The book provides conceptual and practical ideas from the practitioners, best practices from the experts, and empirical views from the researchers on the best practices and how to mitigate the challenges and issues plaguing the development of the financial inclusion.

"This report was written by a team led by Somik V. Lall"--P. xi.