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A new measure of financial development: Theory leads measurement

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  • Boyd, John H.
  • Jalal, Abu M.

Abstract

This study presents a new measure of financial development that is directly derived from theory. Our measure, the Marginal Utilization of Debt (hereafter, MUD) comes from the seminal work of Myers (1984), Myers and Majluf (1984) and Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). Further, it is directly related to the development facts of Gurley and Shaw (1955). MUD is a global measure that reflects conditions in both debt and equity markets. It varies enormously across nations; from 0.23 in Australia at one extreme to 0.96 in Turkey at the other. Cross‐country variations in MUD are not random; they are related to special‐purpose measures of debt and equity market advancement from the financial development literature. Richer, more advanced nations have smaller average MUDs. We argue that the MUD may be useful for a variety of purposes and provide three example applications.

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  • Boyd, John H. & Jalal, Abu M., 2012. "A new measure of financial development: Theory leads measurement," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 341-357.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:99:y:2012:i:2:p:341-357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.04.002
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial development; Financial markets; Debt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • F30 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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