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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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    Cited by:

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    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Maxime Fajeau, 2021. "Has Financial Deepening Done More Harm Than Good?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1773-1806.
    5. Studer, Sabrina & Falkinger, Josef & Zhao, Yingnan, 2015. "Explaining structural changes towards and within the financial sector," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113004, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Maxime Fajeau, 2021. "Too much finance or too many weak instruments?," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 165, pages 14-36.
    7. 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.
    8. Boikos, Spyridon & Panagiotidis, Theodore & Voucharas, Georgios, 2022. "Financial development, reforms and growth," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Ichiro Iwasaki & Shigeki Ono, 2024. "Economic development and the finance–growth nexus: a meta-analytic approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(57), pages 8021-8038, December.
    11. Ikonen, Pasi, 2017. "Financial depth, debt, and growth," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number e51, July.
    12. 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.
    13. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "Bankensysteme aus raumwirtschaftlicher Perspektive," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 099, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    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. 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.
    18. Flögel, Franz & Gärtner, Stefan, 2018. "The banking systems of Germany, the UK and Spain form a spatial perspective: The German case," IAT Discussion Papers 18/04, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    19. 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.
    20. Gärtner Stefan & Flögel Franz, 2013. "Dezentrale versus zentrale Bankensysteme?: Geographische Marktorientierung und Ort der Entscheidungsfindung als Dimensionen zur Unterteilung von Bankensystemen," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 57(1-2), pages 105-121, October.

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