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More Bankers, More Growth? Evidence from OECD Countries

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  • Gunther Capelle-Blancard
  • Claire Labonne

Abstract

We re-examine empirically the finance–growth relationship. We argue that financial deepening should not only be assessed via the familiar measures of financial activity output—the volume of credit—but also through its inputs—for example, the relative number of employees in the financial industry—or the efficiency of the financial-intermediation process. The latter is measured in this paper by the ratio of credit volume to the number of financial-sector employees. We compare these measures using the econometric approach recommended by Roodman (2009). Overall, we fail to find a positive relationship between financial deepening and economic growth in OECD countries over the last 40 years.
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  • Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Claire Labonne, 2016. "More Bankers, More Growth? Evidence from OECD Countries," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 45(1), pages 37-51, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecnote:v:45:y:2016:i:1:p:37-51
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    3. Gunther Capelle-Blancard, 2018. "What is the Point of (the Hundreds of Thousands of Billions of) Stock Transactions?," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(1), pages 15-33, March.
    4. Emmanuel Carré & Guillaume L’œillet, 2018. "The Literature on the Finance–Growth Nexus in the Aftermath of the Financial Crisis: A Review," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(1), pages 161-180, March.
    5. Michiel Bijlsma & Clemens Kool & Marielle Non, 2018. "The effect of financial development on economic growth: a meta-analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(57), pages 6128-6148, December.
    6. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "Bankensysteme aus raumwirtschaftlicher Perspektive," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 099, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    7. Maxime Fajeau, 2021. "Has Financial Deepening Done More Harm Than Good?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1773-1806.
    8. Josef Falkinger & Sabrina Studer & Yingnan Zhao, 2015. "Explaining structural change towards and within the financial sector," ECON - Working Papers 206, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    9. Fajeau, Maxime, 2021. "Too much finance or too many weak instruments?," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 14-36.
    10. Emmanuel Carré & Guillaume L’Œillet, 2017. "Une revue de la littérature récente sur le nexus finance-croissance après la crise : apports, limites et pistes de recherche," Revue d'économie financière, Association d'économie financière, vol. 0(3), pages 271-290.
    11. Kulvinder Purewal & Hazwan Haini, 2022. "Re-examining the effect of financial markets and institutions on economic growth: evidence from the OECD countries," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 311-333, February.
    12. Michiel Bijlsma & Clemens Kool & Marielle Non, 2018. "The effect of financial development on economic growth: a meta-analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(57), pages 6128-6148, December.
    13. Gärtner, Stefan & Flögel, Franz, 2014. "Call for a Spatial Classification of Banking Systems through the Lens of SME Finance - Decentralized versus Centralized Banking in Germany as an Example," IAT Discussion Papers 14/01, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    14. Khabibulina, Liliya & Hefti, Andreas, 2015. "Talent Allocation, Financial Intermediation and Growth: Evidence and Theory," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113095, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Gunther Capelle-Blancard, 2017. "À quoi servent les (centaines de milliers de milliards de) transactions boursières ?," Revue d'économie financière, Association d'économie financière, vol. 0(3), pages 37-58.
    16. Süleyman KALE & Mehmet Hasan EKEN, 2022. "Bank Efficiency and Economic Growth in the OECD Countries," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 46-66, October.
    17. Ikonen, Pasi, 2017. "Financial depth, debt, and growth," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number e51.
    18. IWASAKI, Ichiro & ONO, Shigeki, 2023. "Economic Development and the Finance-Growth Nexus : A Meta-Analytic Approach," CEI Working Paper Series 2023-06, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    19. Gärtner, Stefan & Flögel, Franz, 2014. "Call for a Spatial Classification of Banking Systems through the Lens of SME Finance - Decentralized versus Centralized Banking in Germany as an Example," EconStor Preprints 97512, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    20. Gärtner Stefan & Flögel Franz, 2013. "Dezentrale versus zentrale Bankensysteme?," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 57(1-2), pages 105-121, October.

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