A COMPARATIVE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS BETWEEN TRANSITION ECONOMIES AND DEVELOPED ONES

This paper carries out a comparative analysis of the degree of financial development between transition economies and developed ones based on variables that indicate the direct and indirect degree of financial development. To determine the way the financial systems works and the level of its development, the authors have taken into account four general characteristics of financial institutions and financial markets which were measured for the financial institutions (mainly banks, which are the most important financial institutions in most economies in transition, insurance companies and other financial institutions) as well as for the financial markets, thus leading to a 4x2 matrix of the main characteristics of the financial system. The analysis was developed based on the data found on the Global Financial Development database of the World Bank. Empirical data and authors’ analysis were used to characterize and compare financial systems between countries with economies in transition and developed countries for the years 2008 – 2011. The year 2011 was the last year of available qualitative data for many countries in the Balkan Region such as Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia