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This paper investigates the effects of natural disasters on bank liquidity creation in sub-Saharan African during the period 1988-2018. Using bank-level data from more than 30 countries, we find that natural disasters affect negatively the liquidity creation in the region. The cumulative effect over the three years following a disaster is economically significant, amounting to a total reduction of 4% in the average liquidity generated. This impact is mainly channeled through the asset-side activities of banks. We also find heterogeneous impact of natural disasters on bank liquidity creation based on the size of banks, the magnitude of disasters and the income level of countries. Moreover, these effects are mainly observed when disasters strike on a large-scale. On the contrary, there is no significant difference depending on whether or not the disaster is climatic in origin. Additional tests show that foreign ownership of banks as well as monetary policy change do not qualitatively alter our primary findings. These results support bank regulation policies taking into the specificities of banks operating in environments prone to frequent natural disasters. Specifically, we recommend that central banks implement targeted regulatory measures such as stress-testing or resilience programs. As natural disasters are likely to increase in the coming years due to climate change, we suggest that microprudential policies be further strengthened and adapted to incorporate climate change considerations.

This paper studies the effect of gender-related provisions in Regional Trade Agreements on under-explored aspects of gender inequality at the plant level, namely the difference in the managerial and ownership status between the two genders. This topic is timely and critical as gender equality considerations are becoming more prominent in new trade agreements, recognizing to different extents that trade policies developed with a gender perspective can help overcome gender inequalities by creating new opportunities for women's equal representation in export jobs and entrepreneurship. We use the World Bank Enterprise Surveys that encompasses data on 195,000 firms in 155 countries in 56 manufacturing and services sectors, and the dataset on gender-related provisions in trade agreements from the World Trade Organization. Our results show that the total number of gender-related provisions in trade agreements, as well their location in articles and in annexes are positively associated with a higher probability of the firm to be owned or managed by a female. This result is robust whether the firm is an exporter, importer, or involved in the global value chain of the sector of interest. When differentiating countries by income level, we find that the positive effect of gender-related provisions in trade agreements on women empowerment holds only for developed countries, pointing out the importance of making South-South agreements more gender friendly.

We examine the effect of media freedom on public expenditure efficiency, using a panel of 158 advanced and developing countries from 1994 to 2016. We find robust evidence that media freedom significantly improves government efficiency, and the effect is strongly complementary to per capita income, level of education, Internet access, and fiscal rules. We further empirically examine the underlying mechanisms and show that the effect of media freedom on efficiency is mainly channeled through reduced corruption, improved transparency and accountability in the public sector, and enhanced electoral competition. These findings underscore the critical role of media freedom in fostering good governance and efficient resource use.