Information Asymmetry and Financial Dollarization in Sub-Saharan Africa

Asongu, Simplice and Raheem, Ibrahim and Tchamyou, Venessa (2016): Information Asymmetry and Financial Dollarization in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

Financial dollarization in Sub-Saharan Africa is the most persistent compared to other regions of the world. This study complements the existing scant literature on dollarization in Africa by assessing the role of information sharing offices (public credit registries and private credit bureaus) on financial dollarization in 26 countries of SSA for the period 2001-2012. The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). The findings show that information sharing offices (which are designed to reduce information asymmetry) in the banking industry are a deterrent to dollarization. Policy implications are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Dollarization; Openness; Information Asymmetry; Africa
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E31 - Price Level ; Inflation ; Deflation; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E4 - Money and Interest Rates > E41 - Demand for Money; G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G20 - General; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O16 - Financial Markets ; Saving and Capital Investment ; Corporate Finance and Governance; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa

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