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on Financial Development and Growth |
| By: | Schclarek, Alfredo (Department of Economics, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper theoretically studies the role of the financial system in promoting macroeconomic stability and growth. It also explains endogenously the development of the financial system as part of the growth process. The productive sector engages in R\&D activities, and finances its activities through access to the financial system. While vertical innovation spurs economic growth, horizontal innovation creates new industry sectors, and thus enhances industry diversification. Higher industry diversification deepens the financial system by improving its ability to finance the productive sector. Economies that are more diversified, and thus more financially developed, have higher growth rates and are less volatile. There is a role for the government to subsidize innovation, especially horizontal innovation. |
| Keywords: | vertical innovation; horizontal innovation; industry diversification; financial development; economic growth; imperfect information |
| JEL: | E22 E32 E44 O16 O30 O41 |
| Date: | 2006–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2006_019&r=fdg |
| By: | Laura Alfaro; Areendam Chanda; Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan; Selin Sayek |
| Abstract: | The empirical literature finds mixed evidence on the existence of positive productivity externalities in the host country generated by foreign multinational companies. We propose a mechanism that emphasizes the role of local financial markets in enabling foreign direct investment (FDI) to promote growth through backward linkages, shedding light on this empirical ambiguity. In a small open economy, final goods production is carried out by foreign and domestic firms, which compete for skilled labor, unskilled labor, and intermediate products. To operate a firm in the intermediate goods sector, entrepreneurs must develop a new variety of intermediate good, a task that requires upfront capital investments. The more developed the local financial markets, the easier it is for credit constrained entrepreneurs to start their own firms. The increase in the number of varieties of intermediate goods leads to positive spillovers to the final goods sector. As a result financial markets allow the backward linkages between foreign and domestic firms to turn into FDI spillovers. Our calibration exercises indicate that a) holding the extent of foreign presence constant, financially well-developed economies experience growth rates that are almost twice those of economies with poor financial markets, b) increases in the share of FDI or the relative productivity of the foreign firm leads to higher additional growth in financially developed economies compared to those observed in financially under-developed ones, and c) other local conditions such as market structure and human capital are also important for the effect of FDI on economic growth. |
| JEL: | F23 F36 F43 O40 |
| Date: | 2006–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12522&r=fdg |
| By: | Francis Nathan Okurut (Department of Economics, University of Botswana) |
| Abstract: | This study specifically investigated the factors that influenced access by the poor and Blacks to credit in the segmented financial sector in South Africa, using income and expenditure survey data from 1995 and 2000. The study sheds light on the extent of financial sector deepening through household participation especially among the poor and Blacks, in the context of the fight against poverty. In this study, three types of credit were identified. Formal credit was defined to include debts from commercial banks (including mortgage finance and car loans), semi-formal credit included consumption credit (for household assets such as furniture and open accounts in retail stores), and informal credit specifically referred to debts from relatives and friends.Multinomial logit models and Heckman probit models with sample selection were used for analytical work. The results suggest that the poor and Blacks have limited access to the formal and semi-formal financial sectors. At the national level, access to bank credit is positively and significantly influenced by age, being male, household size, education level, household per capita expenditure and race (being Coloured, Indian or White). Being poor has a negative and significant effect on formal credit access. Semi-formal credit access is positively and significantly influenced by household size, per capita expenditure, provincial location (Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State and North West) and being Coloured. The negative and significant factors in determining access to semi-formal credit include being male, rural location, being poor and being White. Informal credit access is negatively and significantly influenced by education level and race (being Coloured or White). Among the poor, access to bank credit is positively and significantly influenced by being male, provincial location (Western Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga) and being Coloured. Access to semi-formal credit is positively and significantly determined by household per capita expenditure, provincial location (Western Cape, Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng) and being Indian. Access to informal credit by the poor is positively and significantly influenced by provincial location (Kwazulu Natal and Gauteng). Within the black population, access to bank credit is positively and significantly influenced by age, being male, household per capita expenditure and education level. Semi-formal credit access by Blacks is positively and significantly influenced by household size, household per capita expenditure, education level and provincial location (Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Free State and North West). However being male, poor and located in a rural area negatively affected access to semi-formal credit by Blacks. Informal credit access by Blacks is negatively influenced by education level, but positively influenced by being located in the Western and Eastern Cape. These findings confirm that improving access to organized credit markets (i.e formal and semi-formal credit markets) by the poor and Blacks, remains important in the fight against poverty. |
| Keywords: | credit, poverty, South Africa |
| JEL: | N27 D14 G2 |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers27&r=fdg |