IFRS Adoption and Economic Consequences

This paper examines the association between the macroeconomic performance of countries and the adoption of IFRS. For this purpose, IFRS scores are developed using the information in the literature and these scores are quantitatively examined in relation to various macroeconomic variables. The results show that IFRS adoption is positively associated with economic development (measured by GDP per capita level) and financial development (measured by the size of banking sector credits as a ratio to GDP). In addition, IFRS scores are negatively associated with inflation and positively associated with international trade. Overall, the paper finds that IFRS adoption has favourable economic consequences in terms of macroeconomic performance, while more detailed analyses are needed to establish causal links between IFRS and economic consequences. Considering the variation over time and across countries in the adoption of IFRS, this paper has aimed at examining the association between IFRS adoption and macroeconomic consequences.