Does Regional Financial Development Matter for Growth? Evidence from Indian States

The paper investigates finance–growth relationship across 26 Indian states over the period 1981–2012 in a panel setting. We use four indicators of financial development: credit-GSDP ratio, deposit-GSDP ratio, credit-deposit ratio and branch density and apply panel generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques. We observe positive and significant effect of financial development on economic growth and our findings are robust across alternate indicators of financial development and model specifications. Our findings highlight pivotal role played by financial intermediaries in fostering savings mobilization and financing investment activities across states through channels of deposit mobilization, expansion of credit and greater branch expansion in unbanked locations and consequent reduction of transactions costs. These findings are consistent with observations that much of India’s superior growth performance is attributed to high level of domestic savings. The paper also takes care of issues of bias and precision of various GMM estimators arising out of small sample typically prevalent in empirical growth models like ours.     

Balance sheet changes and the impact of financial sector risk-taking on fiscal multipliers

We analyse implications of financial sector dynamics for fiscal expenditure multipliers in recessionary conditions. A new stock-flow consistent model is developed in which a financial sector with four financial instruments is integrated with the real sector. The transmission of policy innovations occurs through balance sheet effects. Higher government expenditure increases aggregate demand in the economy. This reduces the perceived probability of default on financial institutions’ loans, increases asset valuations, and leads financial institutions to reduce interest rate spreads. Expectations of higher future wealth and a reduction in credit constraints supports consumption growth. Stronger balance sheets across institutions and lower interest rates increase investment. The interaction between growth and balance sheet valuations creates financial accelerator effects though its impact on financial sector risk-taking. Inflows of foreign savings can increase the multiplier further than would be the case in a closed economy constrained by domestic savings. The results show that fully modelling interactions between real and financial sectors generates fiscal multipliers higher than have been found for South Africa in other types of model.     

The effects of economic policy uncertainty on China’s economy: evidence from time-varying parameter FAVAR

ABSTRACT

This article explores the effects of China’s economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on its fiscal policy, monetary policy and a wide range of macro-economic variables using a time-varying parameter FAVAR model. Based on monthly data from 07/2003 to 08/2017, the time-varying structure of the model allows us to capture the time-varying characteristics of the macro-economic variables and which channel is relevant. Empirical results reveal that the reaction of monetary and fiscal policies to EPU is highly asymmetric across macro-economic circumstances. Loose monetary and fiscal policies are adopted in response to EPU shocks during the financial crisis, while policies are moderately tightened after the crisis. The China Interbank Offered Rate (Chibor) responds more sensitively and severely than M2 to EPU shocks. Additionally, EPU shocks have a significant and negative impact on economic growth, consumption, exchange rates, bonds and the stock market, but showing a positive impact on credit, real estate and fixed asset investment (which might be due to China’s special economic market environment and the high investment return). The results indicate that EPU shocks significantly affect macroeconomic fundamentals through precautionary savings and financial market channels but lose their effectiveness through a ‘real options’ effect.     

金融发展、资本积累与内生增长:一个评述

本文以资本外溢AK内生增长模型为基础,对金融发展、资本积累与经济增长关系的理论研究和经验分析作了一个文献综述.理论研究表明:金融发展通过提高储蓄转化为资本比率、改善投资配置效率和改变储蓄率等途径促进资本积累和经济增长;金融发展与经济增长之间呈互相促进、互为因果的双向关系,并形成金融发达、经济高增长和金融欠发达、经济低增长的双重均衡.经验分析显示,金融发展与经济增长之间呈显著正相关关系,这证实了金融发展与内生增长理论的预测.     

Financial integration,capital market development and economic performance: Empirical evidence from Botswana

A substantial body of literature suggests that financial market development plays a significant role in economic growth through fostering savings mobilization, easing risk management, promoting technological transfer and reducing information and transaction costs. However, the effect of financial integration on growth remains an empirically controversial topic. This paper explores the impact of financial integration on economic growth in Botswana over the period 1974–2009. We do not find a direct, robust and statistically significant association between financial integration and economic growth in Botswana. However, our results show that financial integration is positively and significantly correlated with financial development in the Botswana economy. Although the relationship between financial integration and growth initially is, at best, weak, we believe this is not to say that financial integration does not promote economic growth, as it could do so indirectly through fostering financial development. Policy-wise, we observe that institutional quality, lower level of government spending and a stable macroeconomic environment are important determinants of both financial development and long-term economic growth. Thus, the Botswana government should continue strengthening and developing its capital market to international standards so as to attract both local and foreign investors and encourage foreign investment in the non-mining sectors. The government should ensure that financial reforms are coordinated, law enforcement authorities are strengthened and property rights are protected to reduce investment risks.     

金融发展与中国的经济增长——从储蓄动员型向市场配置的消费型经济转变

隐形税收机制瓦解后,储蓄动员型的金融发展模式取代了财政投资的主导地位,通过金融支持政策为公有经济部门融资,支撑了经济的高速增长。然而,随着市场约束机制的变化,金融支持政策的收益逐渐下降,成本却在递增。本文认为储蓄动员型的金融支持政策在一定阶段促进了经济的发展,但是也伴随着一系列经济发展的成本,比如降低了资本配置效率,过度投资产生的宏观经济成本和经济持续增长的外部风险加大等。因此,中国金融体制应深化改革,提高金融体系的资本配置效率,促进技术进步和生产效率的改进。同时,通过发展消费信贷和商业保险,减少信贷约束和不确定性,推动消费型经济的增长。     

农村金融发展对农村经济增长的作用机理——基于内生增长理论的实证研究

基于内生增长理论的农村金融发展作用于农村经济增长的主要机理是农村金融发展通过储蓄效应、投资效应和资源配置效应推动物质资本积累、人力资本积累和技术进步,以促进农村经济增长。实证研究表明,农村金融发展通过规模促进农村经济增长的渠道是有效的;农村金融发展通过提高效率促进农村经济增长的渠道是无效的,也即当前农村金融发展效率不能促进农村经济增长。     

Housing price fluctuations and financial risk transmission: a spatial economic model

Financial risk derived from housing price fluctuations in China garnered much public concern recently. Based on the theoretical analyses of the transmission of financial risk from housing price fluctuations, this paper establishes panel spatial Durbin models to empirically analyse housing price fluctuations and financial risks transmission from a spatial economic perspective. Employing the panel provincial data from 1999–2015, we conduct an analysis on the 30 provinces in China as well as a comparison among the Eastern, Middle and Western regions of China. The results indicate that: (1) The soaring housing prices driven by bank credit, real estate developers’ heavy investment, local governments’ land revenue and individuals and households demands leads to financial risk in various sectors; (2) due to the ‘substitution effect’, the capital agglomeration in metropolis from bank credits, real estate developers, and individuals and households furthers the amassment of financial risks; (3) housing prices have a significant spatial contagion effect throughout the country, and financial risk could directly transmit across provinces through housing price fluctuations; (4) financial risks could indirectly transmit across provinces via the ‘imitative behaviour’ or ‘driving effect’ of different sectors for different regions of China.     

Australian Opportunities through the Chinese Structural Transformation

China is now Australia's largest trading partner, continuing to increase its relative importance. Its growth and structural change have been the major determinants of the conditions under which Australia relates to global markets for goods, services and capital. China has been a labour surplus economy. Over the past half‐dozen years, China has entered the ‘turning point’ in economic development, in which labour becomes scarce, real wages rise rapidly, the surplus of savings over investment falls and there is some easing of growth rates in sectors that use resources intensively. This changes the nature of Australian opportunities in China.     

Finance and sources of growth: evidence from the U.S. states

How does financial development affect economic growth: through its impact on accumulation of physical and human capital or by boosting total factor productivity (TFP) growth? We use a new data set on output, inputs, and total factor productivity for the US states to study this question. Unlike previous cross-country research that tries to disentangle the channels through which financial development impacts growth, we use a plausibly exogenous measure of financial development: the timing of banking deregulation across states during the period 1970–2000. At the same time our new data set allows us to go beyond what was previously done in the state banking deregulation literature and identify whether finance impacts states’ input accumulation or TFP growth. We find, in line with existing cross-country studies, that deregulation boosts growth by accelerating both TFP growth and the accumulation of physical capital without having any impact on human capital. In contrast to the cross-country studies, we also find that the effects of deregulation are largely independent of states’ initial level of development; both rich and poor states grow faster after deregulation. Additionally, since our data set breaks down aggregate output into three sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, and the remaining industries, we are able to show that deregulation accelerates the growth of productivity in manufacturing. This last finding answers an important critique of the banking deregulation studies which asserts that observed growth effects may be coming from the growth of financial industry itself and not from the beneficial effect of finance on other industries, such as manufacturing.     

Credit constraints and growth gains from governance

This paper contributes to the governance literature by analyzing the specific mechanisms through which governance affects economic growth: The credit channel. Specifically, it investigates the growth impact of governance on industries with different levels of dependence on external finance. Better governance mitigates credit market imperfections by increasing transparency and accountability and reducing government-policy distortions, promoting productive investment and entrepreneurship development, with a disproportionate impact on sectors that depend on external finance. This paper indeed finds that countries with well-functioning governments are better at providing growth and investment environments for the expansion of industries that rely heavily on external finance and the formation of new establishments in these industries, when controlling for financial development. These results are robust to possible reverse causality, different specifications, subsamples and outliers.     

Financial Deregulation and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism

Major changes to the Australian financial system in the 1980s may possibly have influenced the effects of monetary policy on economic activity. Using vector autoregressive econometric techniques we find that the deregulation of the financial system has made very little difference to the reduced form relationships among interest rates, employment growth, inflation and the growth rate of real credit. We find that interest rates are an important determinant of the business cycle, with credit being much less significant. We also find that monetary policy reacts to unexpected movements in real variables but does not react to surprises in the inflation rate.     

信用与经济增长关系实证研究——基于多层次视角的VAR分析

信用与经济增长之间存在复杂的内在联系。文章利用1990-2007年中国经济数据,实证分析了信用规模及结构与经济增长的关系。结果表明:不同层次的信用规模与经济增长之间存在长期均衡关系且为正相关关系;与非金融部门相比,金融部门信用规模的变化对实际GDP增长的正向影响更大;各层次信用规模与经济增长之间只存在单向因果关系,即经济增长对各层次信用规模的变化有显著的正向效应,而各层次信用规模的变化均未显著影响经济增长。     

Does Financial Development 'Lead' Economic Growth?

We use the Toda & Yamamoto (1995) causality testing procedure to investigate the relationship, if any, between financial development and economic growth.We use quarterly data from 19 OECD countries and China, and use total credit and interest spread as indicators of financial development. We also consider the impact of financial development on investment and productivity. We find meagre evidence that financial development 'leads' economic growth, either directly or indirectly. This casts further doubt on claims that financial development is a necessary and perhaps sufficient precursor to economic growth.     

县域视角下的贫困、金融发展与经济增长*——基于系统GMM方法的再检验

本文以内生区域金融发展理论为基础构建动态面板模型,同时引入贫困因素进一步识别区域金融与经济的非线性关系,将实证对象细化到县域层面,运用系统GMM方法检验贫困与非贫困县域金融对经济增长影响的差异。本文研究发现,信贷层面上的金融发展对经济增长的推动效应普遍存在,而储蓄层面金融发展的效应则存在地区差异,非贫困县的储蓄与经济无关,贫困县的储蓄与经济增长负相关。因此本文指出,区域信贷配给和区域信贷创造理论更适于解释贫困地区的金融发展问题,贫困县域储蓄的负效应是本地储蓄外流和转化效率低下的结果,与我国银行业跨     

Structural change,savings and current account balance

Private savings have experienced remarkable divergences across countries in recent years. In this paper we use a new factor, economic structural changes, to explain the differences of private savings in developing countries and its impacts on current account balance. We point out that growth related structural changes can be decomposed into productivity changes and job reallocations, which will affect private savings differently through wage effect and labor reallocation effect. Wage variation resulting from productivity growth will increase private savings, while labor reallocation moving from low income to high income sectors will reduce savings. Using sector level data, we find strong empirical evidence that structural change patterns have a significant impact on private savings and current account balance. This result provides another way to understand the recent “savings glut” in East Asian countries and also has some implications for the large current account imbalance issue.     

Speculation-led economic development: a post-Keynesian interpretation of financial liberalization programmes in the Third World

The paper presents a post-Keynesian interpretation of the consequences of financial liberalization (FL) programmes in less developed countries (LDCs). The interpretation advanced here incorporates the new-Keynesian concepts of adverse selection and credit rationing into a post-Keynesian framework. It is argued that FL can lead to a particular kind of development, ‘speculation-led economic development’, which is characterized by a preponderance of risky investment practices and shaky financial structures. In addition, FL is likely to induce an increase in directly unproductive profit-seeking activities, a greater likelihood of financial crises, a misallocation of credit and, ultimately, diminished rates of real sector economic growth. Given the likelihood of these outcomes (as well as their realization in LDCs that have implemented FL), FL programmes are argued to be a poor foundation for stable and sustained real-sector economic growth, especially in the context of resource-scarce LDCs.     

Interest rate policy,effective demand,and growth in LDCs

Orthodox criticisms of ‘financial repression’ in LDCs argue that interest rate liberalization promotes investment and economic growth by increasing the supply of bank credit and improving the efficiency of credit allocation. The present paper develops a Kaleckian model in which increases in deposit interest rates may lower investment and growth by placing downward pressure on effective demand – even if interest rate liberalization results in decreased borrowing costs. The focus of the Kaleckian model on effective demand issues is then contrasted with prior criticisms of the proliberalization view. Finally, the relevance of the Kaleckian approach is demonstrated in connection with the important role of effective demand and distributional effects in the failure of the Chilean financial liberalization to promote a stable growth of output and investment.     

How similar are alcohol drinkers? International evidence

Using a Vector Autoregression (VAR) approach, several hypotheses are re-examined suggested by the literature concerning the relationship between financial development and economic growth, investment and productivity. The models use quarterly time-series data from ten OECD countries and China. Innovation accounting or variance decomposition and impulse response function analysis is applied to examine interrelationships between variables in the VAR system and, therefore, differs from the more usual Granger causality approach. In particular, it examines the relationship between financial development proxied by total credit. At best, weak support is found for the hypothesis that financial development ‘leads' economic growth.     

Credit Supply and Demand and Business Investment

Abstract
The article explores the lending behaviour of financial intermediaries over the business cycle in the light of theories emphasising agency costs. During a credit crunch loans from financial intermediaries are unobtainable at any price, and so credit may have a causal influence over economic activity. Tests of this do not find evidence of credit constraints following financial deregulation. However, since both loan supply and demand are driven by forward-looking variables, business credit is a useful leading indicator of nominal investment .