IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-13-00001.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do financial reforms affect inequality through financial sector competition? Evidence from Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Simplice A Asongu

    (African Governance and Development Institute)

Abstract

In the first empirical study on how financial reforms have been instrumental in mitigating inequality through financial sector competition, we contribute at the same time to the macroeconomic literature on measuring financial development and respond to the growing field of economic development by means of informal sector promotion. Hitherto, unexplored financial sector concepts of formalization, semi-formalization and informalization are introduced. Four main findings are established: (1) while formal financial development decreases inequality, financial sector formalization increases it; (2) whereas semi-formal financial development increases inequality, the effect of financial semi-formalization is unclear; (3) both informal financial development and financial informalization have an income equalizing effect and; (4) non-formal financial development is pro-poor. Policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "How do financial reforms affect inequality through financial sector competition? Evidence from Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 401-414.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-13-00001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2013/Volume33/EB-13-V33-I1-P39.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "Investment And Inequality In Africa: Which Financial Channels Are Good For The Poor?," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 43-65.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "How has Mobile Phone Penetration Stimulated Financial Development in Africa?," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 7-18, April.
    3. Hisako Kai & Shigeyuki Hamori, 2009. "Globalization, financial depth, and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(3), pages 2025-2037.
    4. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    5. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Financial Sector Competition and Knowledge Economy: Evidence from SSA and MENA Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(4), pages 717-748, December.
    6. Simplice A, Asongu, 2012. "How has mobile banking stimulated financial development in Africa?," MPRA Paper 38576, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    8. Enowbi Batuo, Michael & Guidi, Francesco & Mlambo, Kupukile, 2010. "Financial Development and Income Inequality: Evidence from African Countries," MPRA Paper 25658, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Mr. Magnus Saxegaard, 2006. "Excess Liquidity and Effectiveness of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," IMF Working Papers 2006/115, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A Asongu, 2014. "On the substitution of institutions and finance in investment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1557-1574.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Gilbert A.A. Aminkeng, 2013. "The economic consequences of China--Africa relations: debunking myths in the debate," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 261-277, November.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Lieven De Moor, 2015. "Recent advances in finance for inclusive development: a survey," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/005, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    4. Asongu, Simplice A, 2013. "Finance and growth: New evidence from Meta-analysis," MPRA Paper 52210, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(8), pages 706-716, August.
    6. Asongu Simplice, 2014. "Fresh Patterns of Liberalization, Bank Return and Return Uncertainty in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/004, African Governance and Development Institute..
    7. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Knowledge Economy and Financial Sector Competition in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 333-346, June.
    8. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "New Financial Development Indicators: With a Critical Contribution to Inequality Empirics," The International Journal of Economic Behavior - IJEB, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 4(1), pages 33-50.
    9. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Gilbert A. A. Aminkeng, 2018. "Lessons from a Survey of China’s Economic Diplomacy," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 18/009, African Governance and Development Institute..
    10. Batuo, Michael & Mlambo, Kupukile & Asongu, Simplice, 2018. "Linkages between financial development, financial instability, financial liberalisation and economic growth in Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 168-179.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Recent finance advances in information technology for inclusive development: a systematic review," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 65-93, October.
    12. Simplice A, Asongu, 2011. "Finance and growth: Schumpeter might be wrong in our era. New evidence from Meta-analysis," MPRA Paper 32559, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 07 Feb 2013.
    13. Asongu, Simplice, 2014. "Reinventing foreign aid for inclusive and sustainable development: a survey," MPRA Paper 65300, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Christian Lambert NGUENA & Roger TSAFACK NANFOSSO, 2014. "Macroeconomic Factors and Dynamics of Financial Deepening: An empirical Investigation applied to the CEMAC Sub-region," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/015, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    15. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Liberalisation and Financial Sector Competition: A Critical Contribution to the Empirics with an African Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 425-451, September.
    16. Simplice Asongu, 2016. "Reinventing Foreign Aid For Inclusive And Sustainable Development: Kuznets, Piketty And The Great Policy Reversal," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 736-755, September.
    17. Asongu Simplice, 2013. "Mobile banking and mobile phone penetration: which is more pro-poor in Africa?," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 13/033, African Governance and Development Institute..
    18. Simplice Asongu & John Ssozi, 2016. "Sino-African Relations: Some Solutions and Strategies to the Policy Syndromes," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 33-51, January.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Recent finance advances in information technology for inclusive development: a survey," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/009, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Gilbert A. A. Aminkeng, 2014. "China’s Strategies in Economic Diplomacy: A Survey of Updated Lessons for Africa, the West and China," Research Africa Network Working Papers 14/036, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    21. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Gilbert A. A. Aminkeng, 2014. "China’s Strategies in Economic Diplomacy: A Survey of Updated Lessons for Africa, the West and China," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 14/036, African Governance and Development Institute..
    22. Simplice Asongu & Jacinta Nwachukwu & Gilbert Aminkeng, 2018. "Lessons from a Survey of China’s Economic Diplomacy," AFEA Working Papers 18/008, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "New Financial Development Indicators: With a Critical Contribution to Inequality Empirics," The International Journal of Economic Behavior - IJEB, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 4(1), pages 33-50.
    2. Simplice Asongu & Vanessa Tchamyou, 2015. "Inequality, Finance and Pro-Poor Investment in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/052, African Governance and Development Institute..
    3. Asongu, Simplice, 2015. "Financial development in Africa - a critical examination," MPRA Paper 82131, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Simplice Asongu & Rexon Nting, 2021. "The role of finance in inclusive human development in Africa revisited," Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 345-370, February.
    5. Meniago, Christelle & Asongu, Simplice A., 2018. "Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 399-419.
    6. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2015. "Finance and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa," MPRA Paper 71787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 42(8), pages 706-716, August.
    8. Asongu, Simplice, 2013. "Mobile banking and mobile phone penetration: which is more pro-poor in Africa?," MPRA Paper 56800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kaidi Nasreddine & Sami Mensi, 2016. "Financial Development and Income Inequality: The Linear versus the Nonlinear Hypothesis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(2), pages 609-626.
    10. Kwame Acheampong, 2019. "The interaction effect of foreign capital inflows and financial development on economic welfare in sub-Saharan Africa," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-33, December.
    11. Simplice A, Asongu, 2012. "Fighting consumer price inflation in Africa. What do dynamics in money, credit, efficiency and size tell us?," MPRA Paper 41553, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "The ‘Knowledge Economy'-finance nexus: how do IPRs matter in SSA and MENA countries?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 78-94.
    13. Simplice A Asongu, 2013. "How has politico-economic liberalization affected financial allocation efficiency? Fresh African evidence," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 663-676.
    14. Asongu, Simplice A., 2013. "How do institutions matter in the income-equalizing effect of mobile phone penetration?," European Economic Letters, European Economics Letters Group, vol. 2(2), pages 56-61.
    15. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "The “knowledge economy”–finance nexus in SSA and MENA countries," International Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Finance and Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 200-213, June.
    16. Asongu Simplice, 2011. "Finance and Inequality: Exploring Pro-Poor Investment Channels in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 11/016, African Governance and Development Institute..
    17. Simplice A. Asongu, 2013. "Investment And Inequality In Africa: Which Financial Channels Are Good For The Poor?," The African Finance Journal, Africagrowth Institute, vol. 15(2), pages 43-65.
    18. Simplice Asongu, 2015. "Liberalisation and Financial Sector Competition: A Critical Contribution to the Empirics with an African Assessment," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 83(3), pages 425-451, September.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Knowledge Economy and Financial Sector Competition in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 333-346, June.
    20. Asongu, Simplice & Amavilah, Voxi & Andrés, Antonio R., 2014. "Economic Implications of Business Dynamics for KE-Associated Economic Growth and Inclusive Development in African Countries," MPRA Paper 63793, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Development; Shadow Economy; Poverty; Inequality; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • E0 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-13-00001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.