Financial aspects of marine economic growth: From the perspective of coastal provinces and regions in China

Abstract

This paper investigates the causal relationship between financial development and marine economic growth in China through a bootstrap panel causality analysis. The interplay pattern between these two variables possesses noticeable regional differences, mainly due to the heterogeneous nature of the marine industry structures, government policies, and the quality of the financial markets. Financial development tends to affect marine economic growth, especially when considered in the context of Granger causality, mainly in the eastern marine economic circle. The region's mature financial system enables marine industries to make full use of the available financial resources, which is conducive to marine economic growth. However, financial development is not excessively dependent on marine economic growth, and government policies mainly determine its scale. The result of the eastern marine economic circle substantiates the existence of a “supply-leading” link from financial development to marine economic growth. However, the “demand-following” link is not established in most provinces. Therefore, this analysis will be beneficial to accelerate marine economic growth, specifically through the role that financial development has to play and the emphasis on fulfilling the goal of building a strong maritime country.