IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijppmp/ijppm-06-2019-0310.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic freedom, competition and bank stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanuel Sarpong-Kumankoma
  • Joshua Yindenaba Abor
  • Anthony Q. Q. Aboagye
  • Mohammed Amidu

Abstract

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the potential implications of economic freedom and competition for bank stability. Design/methodology/approach - Using system generalized method of moments and data from 139 banks across 11 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries during the period 2006–2012, this study considers whether the degree of economic freedom affects the relationship between competition and bank stability. Findings - The results show evidence of the competition-fragility hypothesis in SSA banking, but suggests that beyond a setting threshold, increases in market power may also be damaging to bank stability. Financial freedom has a negative effect on bank stability, suggesting that banks operating in environments with greater financial freedom generally tend to be less stable or more risky. The authors also find evidence of a conditional effect of economic freedom on the competition–stability relationship, implying that bank failure is more likely to occur in countries with greater economic freedom, but with low competition in the banking sector. Practical implications - The results suggests to policy makers that a moderate level of competition and economic freedom may be the appropriate policy to ensure the stability of banks. Originality/value - The study provides insight on the competition–bank stability relationship, by providing new empirical evidence on the effect of economic freedom, which has not been previously considered.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuel Sarpong-Kumankoma & Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Anthony Q. Q. Aboagye & Mohammed Amidu, 2020. "Economic freedom, competition and bank stability in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 70(7), pages 1510-1527, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijppmp:ijppm-06-2019-0310
    DOI: 10.1108/IJPPM-06-2019-0310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2019-0310/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2019-0310/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2019-0310?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition; Bank stability; Economic freedom; Financial freedom; Market power; Lerner index; G21; G33; G38;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:eme:ijppmp:ijppm-06-2019-0310. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Emerald Support (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.