IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wop/pennin/98-35.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is There an Optimal Size for the Financial Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony M. Santomero
  • John J. Seater

Abstract

This paper derives the optimal size of the financial sector using a general equilibrium framework that is an extension of Holmstrom and Tirole's 1997 paper. We show that the financial sector has a unique optimal size relative to the size of the economy as a whole. Creating and maintaining this sector requires diversion of some physical capital from production of output to monitoring that production. However, the efficiency gain in output production brought about by monitoring warrants the diversion. It is also found that the optimal size of the financial sector is independent of the state of the economy and does not vary over the business cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony M. Santomero & John J. Seater, 1999. "Is There an Optimal Size for the Financial Sector," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 98-35, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
  • Handle: RePEc:wop:pennin:98-35
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/98/9835.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bengt Holmstrom & Jean Tirole, 1997. "Financial Intermediation, Loanable Funds, and The Real Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(3), pages 663-691.
    2. Bhattacharya Sudipto & Thakor Anjan V., 1993. "Contemporary Banking Theory," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 2-50, October.
    3. Franklin Allen, Douglas Gale, 1988. "Optimal Security Design," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(3), pages 229-263.
    4. Ben Bernanke & Mark Gertler, 1990. "Financial Fragility and Economic Performance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(1), pages 87-114.
    5. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    6. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    7. Bernanke, Ben S, 1981. "Bankruptcy, Liquidity, and Recession," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 155-159, May.
    8. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    9. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March.
    10. Allen, Franklin & Santomero, Anthony M., 1997. "The theory of financial intermediation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(11-12), pages 1461-1485, December.
    11. Fama, Eugene F., 1985. "What's different about banks?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 29-39, January.
    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. Drew Saunders, 2009. "The Elastic Provision of Liquidity by Private Agents," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(7), pages 1423-1451, October.
    2. Ductor, Lorenzo & Grechyna, Daryna, 2015. "Financial development, real sector, and economic growth," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 393-405.
    3. Mr. Gianni De Nicolo & Mr. Sami Geadah & Mr. Dmitriy L Rozhkov, 2003. "Financial Development in the CIS-7 Countries: Bridging the Great Divide," IMF Working Papers 2003/205, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Zhixin Wang & Yue Wang, 2019. "Measuring Risks of Confirming Warehouse Financing from the Third Party Logistics Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-24, November.
    5. Jingzhu Chen & Yuemei Ji, 2022. "Is Finance Good for Growth? New Evidence from China," CESifo Working Paper Series 9882, CESifo.
    6. Lin Lin & Hsien-Chang Kuo & I-Liang Lin, 2008. "Merger and optimal number of firms: an integrated simulation approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(18), pages 2413-2421.
    7. Ye, Dezhu & Huang, Yunjue & Zeng, Fanqing, 2021. "Does structural matching between finance and the real economy promote economic growth?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 11-29.
    8. Leyla Yusifzada & Aytan Mammadova, 2015. "Financial intermediation and economic growth," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp1091, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    9. Lv, Chengchao & Song, Jie & Lee, Chien-Chiang, 2022. "Can digital finance narrow the regional disparities in the quality of economic growth? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 502-521.
    10. Tiho Ancev & Karunagaran Madhavan, 2023. "Size matters: Optimal management of dynamic systems with varying size," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(1), pages 137-153, January.
    11. Arman Kösedağ & Meltem Denizel & Öznur Özdemir, 2009. "Testing for convergence in bank efficiency: a cross-country analysis," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(9), pages 1533-1547, November.
    12. John J. Seater, 2000. "Optimal Bank Regulation and Monetary Policy," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-38, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    13. Rahman, Abdul & Khan, Muhammad Arshad & Charfeddine, Lanouar, 2021. "Regime-specific impact of financial reforms on economic growth in Pakistan," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 161-182.
    14. Drew Saunders, 2009. "The Elastic Provision of Liquidity by Private Agents," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(7), pages 1423-1451, October.
    15. Fatima S. Al Shamsi & Hassan Aly & Mohamed El-Bassiouni, 2009. "Measuring and explaining the efficiencies of the United Arab Emirates banking system," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(27), pages 3505-3519.
    16. Michael Graff, 2005. "Is There an Optimum Level of Financial Activity?," KOF Working papers 05-106, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    17. Liu, Guanchun & Zhang, Chengsi, 2020. "Does financial structure matter for economic growth in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    18. Alarudeen Aminu Ph.D & Isiaka Akande Raifu & Bolanle Deborah Oloyede, . "Financial Development and Manufacturing Output Growth Nexus in Nigeria: The Role Of Institutional Quality," Journal of Economic and Sustainable Growth 2, Office Of The Chief Economist, Development Bank of Nigeria.
    19. Miyake, Atsushi & Nakamura, Tamotsu, 2007. "A dynamic analysis of an economy with banking optimization and capital adequacy regulations," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 14-27.

    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. John J. Seater, 2000. "Optimal Bank Regulation and Monetary Policy," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-38, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    2. Richard J. Herring & Anthony M. Santomero, 2000. "What Is Optimal Financial Regulation?," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 00-34, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. Ana María Olaya, 2002. "Las finanzas en la frontera del conocimiento," Borradores de Investigación 3114, Universidad del Rosario.
    4. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2022. "Financial Intermediation and the Economy," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2022-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    5. Santomero, Anthony M. & Trester, Jeffrey J., 1998. "Financial innovation and bank risk taking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 25-37, March.
    6. Nakashima, Kiyotaka & Takahashi, Koji, 2020. "The time has come for banks to say goodbye: New evidence on bank roles and duration effects in relationship terminations," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    7. Peter Docherty & Ron Bird & Timo Henckel & Gordon Menzies, 2016. "Australian prudential regulation before and after the global financial crisis," CAMA Working Papers 2016-49, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Goetz von Peter, 2003. "A Unified Approach to Credit Crunches, Financial Instability, and Banking Crises," Macroeconomics 0312006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Anthony M. Santomero, 1996. "The Regulatory and Public Policy Agenda for Effective Intermediation in Post Socialist Economies," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 96-34, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    10. Bougheas, Spiros, 2007. "Imperfect capital markets, income distribution and the choice of external finance: A financial equilibrium approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 507-520, September.
    11. Goetz von Peter, 2004. "Asset Prices and Banking Distress: A Macroeconomic Approach," Finance 0411034, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Hans Gersbach, 2002. "Financial Intermediation and the Creation of Macroeconomic Risks," CESifo Working Paper Series 695, CESifo.
    13. José Pablo Dapena, 2006. "Volatility of GDP, macro applications and policy implications of real options for structure of capital Markets," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 320, Universidad del CEMA.
    14. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    15. Saki Bigio & Adrien d'Avernas, 2021. "Financial Risk Capacity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 142-181, October.
    16. Smith, R. Todd & van Egteren, Henry, 2005. "Inflation, investment and economic performance: The role of internal financing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 1283-1303, July.
    17. Gabriel Jiménez & Steven Ongena & José-Luis Peydró & Jesús Saurina, 2017. "Macroprudential Policy, Countercyclical Bank Capital Buffers, and Credit Supply: Evidence from the Spanish Dynamic Provisioning Experiments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(6), pages 2126-2177.
    18. Annalisa Castelli & Gerald P. Dwyer & Iftekhar Hasan, 2006. "Bank relationships and small firms’ financial performance," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2006-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    19. Gorton, Gary & Winton, Andrew, 2003. "Financial intermediation," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 8, pages 431-552, Elsevier.
    20. Cetorelli, Nicola & Peretto, Pietro F., 2012. "Credit quantity and credit quality: Bank competition and capital accumulation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 967-998.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial sector; intermediation theory; financial institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services

    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:wop:pennin:98-35. 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: Thomas Krichel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fiupaus.html .

    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.