Eyah Denise EDOH

Most developing economies borrow abroad in foreign currency, which exposes them to the problem of "original sin." Although the literature on the issue is relatively extensive, little is said about the role of fiscal frameworks such as fiscal rules in controlling original sin. Hence, using a panel of 59 developing countries over the period 1990-2020 and applying the entropy balancing method, we find that fiscal rules reduce government debt in foreign currency, and that the effects are statistically and economically significant and robust. In addition, the strengthening of the rule, better fiscal discipline prior to the adoption of the reform, financial development, financial openness, flexibility of the exchange rate regime, and sound institutions amplify the negative effect of fiscal rules on original sin.

This paper examines the impact of mobile money adoption on entrepreneurship in a large panel of 105 developing countries over the period 2006-2020 using entropy balancing method. Results indicate that countries with mobile money have higher entrepreneurial activities. Specifically, countries with mobile money experienced an increase of 0.35 percentage points in their entrepreneurial activity compared to nonmobile money countries. This result is robust to several robustness tests, including altering the definition of mobile money, the definition of entrepreneurship, placebo tests, adding additional control variables, changing the sample design, and alternative estimation methods such as panel fixed effects, and the GMM system. Furthermore, the heterogeneity tests performed indicate the sensitivity of our results to the intensity of mobile money use, some structural factors such as democracy, conflict, regulatory quality, corruption, financial development, internet, and education.