Financial Structure Matters Research Articles

Sources of economic growth: Bankerteers or marketeers or both? An auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) evidence from Ghana

AbstractThe study seeks to find out whether financial structure matters in economic development. Using quarterly data from 1998 to 2018 from Ghana and with auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL)‐bound testing technique in the study found that financial structure is irrelevant for long‐term economic growth in Ghana. The finding of concurs with the complementarity view between the banks and the exchange and rejects that both subsectors are substitutes since financial services indicators were significance in influencing economic growth. In this vein the study concludes on the importance of financial services rather than structure. Based on these observations, the study recommends that policymakers should grow the synergy between the banks and the markets.

Real income convergence and the patterns of financial integration in the EU

We analyse real income convergence among the EU28 countries throughout 1995–2017 and the relationship with the convergence patterns of financial systems. We apply the nonlinear latent factor model of Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) to real incomes and the IMF financial development indices for financial markets and financial institutions (Svirydzenka, 2016), and identify convergence clubs endogenously. We have several results. First, income disparities narrowed significantly over the last twenty years; yet, the growth convergence process lost momentum triggered by the global financial crisis and countries legacies shaped up asymmetries that have crystallised. Second, countries' financial systems exhibit high fragmentation, especially for financial markets, with the new EU member states at a lower financial development, confirming the existence of a two-tier Europe. Overall, the convergence patterns for real incomes and financial development are strongly correlated. Finally, the financial structure matters and market-oriented economies feature higher long-run growth, indicating the need to implement pan-European policy actions that increase the opportunities of risk diversification, enhance capital raising and channel large-scale financing to firms.

Impact of financial structure on environmental quality: evidence from panel and disaggregated data

ABSTRACTThis paper examines two unresolved issues regarding the nexus between financial system development and environmental quality. (i) Does the structure of the financial system matter? (ii) Is there a nonlinear relationship? We employ the newly developed dynamic common correlated effect (CCE) and the dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) estimators in order to address potential endogeneity, heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence in a panel of 58 countries. The panel data analysis reveals that the structure of the financial system matters in safeguarding environmental quality. More precisely, bank-based financial development enhances environmental quality, whereas the impact of market-based financial development is tenuous. We find some evidences of a nonlinear relationship between financial system development and environmental quality. The disaggregated data reveals the countries where financial structure matters for environmental quality, and countries where a nonlinear relationship exists between the variables. Therefore, countries that want to maintain environmental quality should strengthen the development of bank-based financial system. Moreover, effort to develop and reposition the stock markets should be prioritized in countries’ environmental policies with a view to sustaining environmental quality.

The relationship between insurance and banking sectors: does financial structure matter?

This paper employs panel data of 36 countries over the period from 1980 to 2015 to investigate whether financial structure matters for the linkage between the insurance and banking sectors. Panel co-integration tests find that the significant relationship varies across different financial structures. Specifically, a developed financial system and market-based structure reinforce their long-run linkage. Panel Granger causality tests show that the market-based structure strengthens the insurance–bank nexus for the financially underdeveloped group of countries and that a financially developed system is conducive to realising a short-run dynamic linkage for a bank-based economy. More importantly, the linkages between insurance and banking sectors can be complementary or substitutive, depending on the relative importance of risk transfer and capital allocation in the insurance market. These findings offer useful insights into achieving the two sectors’ co-evolution and further provide some evidence from the market-based and financial services viewpoints.

Financial Structure and Economic Growth: The Nigerian Experience, 1980-2017

This study investigated the role of financial structure in explaining economic growth dynamics in Nigeria using annual time series from 1981-2017. The study employed the vector error correction model (VECM) in the analysis of the data. As lead up to financial structure and economic growth relationship analysis, the competing theoretical views of bank and market based financial system and economic growth were explored. The result of the study showed that economic growth, financial development variables and the underlying control variables are cointegrated. The result of the economic growth effect of financial development showed that stock market and bank-based have a significant effect on growth. This implies that both bank-based and market-based matter in explaining economic growth dynamics. On the relationship between financial structure and economic growth, the study revealed that economic growth, financial structure and the underlying control variables have a long run relationship. The study also revealed that financial structure which captures the combination of stock market-based and bank-based has a positive significant effect on growth. A significant coefficient of financial structure implies that financial structure matters in explaining growth. Therefore, the study posits that the overall financial structure is the most useful way to assess the financial systems since both bank and stock market system matter in explaining economic growth as against bank-based versus market-based debate. Based on the empirical evidence, the study therefore recommends that there should be continuous holistic reforms of both banking and stock market simultaneously, as the development in one sector has a neglect effect on the other.

Does financial structure matter for economic growth in China

Based on an extended neoclassical growth model, this paper explores the endogenous mechanism between financial structure and economic growth. Our theoretical analysis shows that there exists an optimal financial structure evolving to meet different demands of the real economy in the process of economic development. We then investigate whether financial structure matters for economic growth using a panel data of 29 provinces across the eastern, central, and western regions in China from 1996 to 2013. The empirical results show that financial structure has a significant impact on economic growth. However, the effect of financial structure on regional economic growth varies and presents an inverse U-shape. These results confirm the evolving effect of financial structure on economic growth at different stages of economic development.

Unconventional monetary policy and aggregate bank lending: Does financial structure matter?

This paper addresses a previously unexamined intersection between the financial structure literature and the unconventional monetary policy literature. First it examines how differences in financial structure –the mix of financial instruments, markets, and intermediaries, have been responsible for differences in approach to unconventional monetary policy between the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve. Then, by conducting multivariate time-series analyses, this paper shows empirically to what extent differences in financial structure between Japan and the U.S. have affected the relationship between unconventional monetary policy and aggregate bank lending. The results indicate that financial structure should be thought of as an important factor determining the approach and effects of unconventional monetary policy.

Financial structure and economic performance in selected African countries: time series evidence

In this paper, the authors investigate the long-debated question of whether or not a country’s financial structure matters for economic performance and, if so, how exactly it matters. The study uses the Johansen cointegration and vector error correction modelling framework within a country-specific setting to examine empirically the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between the financial structure of a country and per capita GDP and the causality thereof. The empirical assessment is based on evidence from selected African countries over the period 1971-2013, notably Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. Firstly, cointegration test results reported in this paper show that there exists a strong relationship between the financial structure of Egypt and South Africa, and per capita GDP in these countries. However, such a relationship is weak in Nigeria, mainly attributable to its low level of financial development and the possibility of the natural resource curse emanating from the oil industry. Secondly, the evidence also strongly suggests that the nature of the relationship between the financial structure of Egypt and South Africa and per capita GDP is positive, albeit based on different measures of financial structure. In Egypt, financial structure is measured by the S-Size ratio, while, in South Africa, it is proxied by the S-Activity ratio. In Nigeria, there is no evidence suggesting that the country’s financial structure influences per capita GDP. Lastly, coefficients of the error correction term for all three countries are low, suggesting inefficiencies in the financial system and possible rigidities within the economies

Financial leverage and export quality: evidence from France

Does corporate financial structure matter for a firm’s ability to compete in international markets through output quality? This study answers this question by using firm-level export and balance sheet data covering a large sample of French manufacturing exporters over the period 1997–2007. The main result is that there is a negative causal relation between a firm’s leverage and export quality, where quality is inferred from the estimation of a discrete choice model of foreign consumers’ demand. This result is robust across different specifications and estimation techniques. In addition, by estimating investment models we find that the negative impact of leverage on quality is consistent with theories predicting that the agency cost of debt determines suboptimal investment.

Financial leverage and export quality: Evidence from France

Abstract Does corporate financial structure matter for a firm’s ability to compete in international markets through output quality? This study answers this question by using firm-level export and balance sheet data covering a large sample of French manufacturing exporters over the period 1997–2007. The main result is that there is a negative causal relation between a firm’s leverage and export quality, where quality is inferred from the estimation of a discrete choice model of foreign consumers’ demand. This result is robust across different specifications and estimation techniques. In addition, by estimating investment models we find that the negative impact of leverage on quality is consistent with theories predicting that the agency cost of debt determines suboptimal investment.

Financing in an emerging economy: Does financial development or financial structure matter?

This paper investigates the effects of the financial system on a firm's investment decisions using data from 404 Brazilian firms over the 1998–2006 period. We also use country-level data and classify firms as financially constrained and unconstrained according to the KZ and WW indexes. The results show that financial development has a significant impact on a firm's investment. Furthermore, the financial structure has an effect on the investment behavior of constrained firms even after controlling for the level of financial development. This finding points to a market-based financial system in order to reduce the constrained firms' dependence on internal resources.

Financing sources and firm level productivity growth: evidence from Indian manufacturing

A large literature provides empirical evidence that financial development enhances welfare by stimulating economic efficiency and offering more profitable growth opportunities, although the issues of identifying the exact mechanisms through which finance enhances welfare and dealing with the simultaneity between financial development and growth still remain contentious. This paper takes a firm-level approach to study the link between financing sources and firm growth in India. We start by observing that (domestic) financial underdevelopment should not necessarily constrain all firms’ growth opportunities equally, given they can also access other non-bank finance sources such as retained earnings, foreign finance and government borrowings. Similarly, it is unrealistic to assume that similar financial structure will generate homogenous effects across firms. These considerations motivate our research questions of whether financing sources matter for firms’ productivity growth and whether this depends on firm characteristics such as ownership and size. We answer these questions using a rich micro panel data set and employing econometric techniques that deal with the potential reverse causality from financial structure to productivity growth. We find that relative to retained earnings, bank and nonbank finances positively affect firm level productivity growth with bank loans having the largest and government borrowings the least effect on growth. Size is found to play a mediating role in the finance-growth nexus: access to bank loans (nonbank finance) disproportionately benefits smaller (bigger) firms. Further analysis around ownership structure suggests that all else equal, it would appear that financial structure matters only for the growth of domestic private firms.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE GAP AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

This study is built on the concept of optimal financial structure and examines its dynamics with the economic development process of India. Specifically, the present study intends to examine the evolving importance of banks and markets during different stages of economic development. Using annual data from 1988–2009 for India and selected benchmark OECD countries, we have conducted quantile and robust regression to assess the impact of deviation from the optimal financial structure on the output growth. To our knowledge the present study is one of the pioneer works in calculating the optimal financial structure in Indian context. The empirical evidence suggests that as the economy develops the services provided by banks are comparatively more important than those provided by the stock markets. The financial structure matters for the growth process. The deviation from the optimal structure has harmful effects on the economy and the financial structure gap retards the growth process.

Profitability of Western European Banking Systems: Panel Evidence on Structural and Cyclical Determinants

This paper analyses structural and cyclical determinants of banking profitability in 16 Western European countries. We find that financial structure matters, particularly through the beneficial effect of the capital market orientation in the respective national financial system. Furthermore, higher diversification regarding banks' income sources shows a positive effect. The industry concentration of national banking systems, though, does not significantly affect aggregate profitability. Business cycle effects, in particular lagged GDP growth, display a substantial procyclical impact on bank profits. These results are obtained in a single equation panel framework using the Hausman-Taylor instrument variable estimator. The data set comprises aggregate annual country data and banking group data (commercial banks, cooperative banks and savings banks) over the period 1979-2003.

Profitability of Western European Banking Systems: Panel Evidence on Structural and Cyclical Determinants

This paper analyses structural and cyclical determinants of banking profitability in 16 Western European countries. We find that financial structure matters, particularly through the beneficial effect of the capital market orientation in the respective national financial system. Furthermore, higher diversification regarding banks' income sources shows a positive effect. The industry concentration of national banking systems, though, does not significantly affect aggregate profitability. Business cycle effects, in particular lagged GDP growth, display a substantial procyclical impact on bank profits. These results are obtained in a single equation panel framework using the Hausman-Taylor instrument variable estimator. The data set comprises aggregate annual country data and banking group data (commercial banks, cooperative banks and savings banks) over the period 1979-2003.

The financing of corporate firms in France: An econometric model

After a survey of recent developments in the micro- and macroeconomic literature in corporate finance, the paper presents empirical evidence of firms' financing decisions based on a short-term (quarterly) econometric model, fitted on French data for the period 1977–1989. The hierarchy of decisions is the following: first, firms rely on bank borrowing to finance their increased working capital requirements; then, in order to balance their overall indebtedness, they issue equities on the financial market. These results, based on cointegration tests and error correction models, tend to confirm the idea that, in the case of France, the hypothesis of an ‘over draft economy’ (as apposed to ‘financial market economy’) is no longer relevant as far as the financing of firms is concerned. Nevertheless, with the persistence of asymmetric information, financial structure matters; in particular, the debt/equity ratio plays a significat role.