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Financial Deepening, Property Rights, and Poverty: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • Raju Jan Singh

    (The World Bank, United States)

  • Yifei Huang

    (GMO, United States)

Abstract

Recent studies on the relationship between financial development and poverty have been inconclusive. Some claim that, by allowing more entrepreneurs to obtain financing, financial development improves the allocation of capital, which has a particularly large impact on the poor. Others argue that it is primarily the rich and politically connected who benefit from improvements in the financial system. This paper looks at a sample of 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 1992 through 2006. Its results suggest that financial deepening could widen income inequality and increase poverty, if not accompanied by stronger property rights. Similarly, interest rate and lending liberalization alone could be detrimental to the poor without institutional reforms, in particular stronger property rights and wider access to credit information.

Suggested Citation

  • Raju Jan Singh & Yifei Huang, 2015. "Financial Deepening, Property Rights, and Poverty: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(3), pages 130-151, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sgm:jbfeuw:v:1:y:2015:i:3:p:130-151
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    9. Gnangnon, Sèna Kimm, 2021. "Do Unilateral Trade Preferences Help Reduce Poverty in Beneficiary Countries?," EconStor Preprints 247346, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    10. Mintah, Kwabena & Boateng, Festival Godwin & Baako, Kingsley Tetteh & Gaisie, Eric & Otchere, Gideon Kwame, 2021. "Blockchain on stool land acquisition: Lessons from Ghana for strengthening land tenure security other than titling," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    11. Lubinga, Moses H., 2016. "The role of agricultural trade and policy complementarities in poverty reduction in South Africa," NAMC Publications 253094, National Agricultural Marketing Council.
    12. Appiah-Otoo, Isaac & Chen, Xudong & Song, Na & Dumor, Koffi, 2022. "Financial development, institutional improvement, poverty reduction: The multiple challenges in West Africa," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 1296-1312.
    13. Ernesto M. Pernia & Janine Elora M. Lazatin, 2016. "Do Regions Gain from an Open Economy?," UP School of Economics Discussion Papers 201602, University of the Philippines School of Economics.
    14. Franklin Obeng-Odoom, 2016. "Understanding Land Reform in Ghana," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 48(4), pages 661-680, December.
    15. Megha Chhabra & Arun Kumar Giri & Arya Kumar, 2023. "Does good governance and trade openness contribute to poverty reduction in BRICS? An empirical analysis," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 650-667, December.
    16. Kpodar, Kangni & Singh, Raju Jan, 2011. "Does financial structure matter for poverty ? evidence from developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5915, The World Bank.
    17. Nasreddine Kaidi & Sami Mensi & Mehdi Ben Amor, 2019. "Financial Development, Institutional Quality and Poverty Reduction: Worldwide Evidence," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 131-156, January.
    18. Alshubiri, Faris, 2021. "Financial deepening indicators and income inequality of OECD and ASIAN countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    19. Maëlan Le Goff & Raju Jan Singh, 2014. "Does trade reduce poverty? A view from Africa," Journal of African Trade, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 5-14, March.
    20. Singh,Raju & Huang,Yifei, 2016. "Financial channels, property rights, and poverty : a Sub-Saharan African perspective," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7559, The World Bank.
    21. Raju Jan Singh & Yifei Huang, 2016. "Financial Channels, Property Rights and Poverty: A Sub-Saharan African Perspective This work was initiated when Raju Jan Singh was a Senior Economist and Yifei Huang a summer intern at the African Dep," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 45(3), pages 327-351, November.
    22. Temilola Osinubi, Tolulope, 2020. "The Role Of Income Inequality In The Globalisation-Poverty Nexus: Empirical Evidence From Mint Countries," Ilorin Journal of Economic Policy, Department of Economics, University of Ilorin, vol. 7(2), pages 67-89, June.
    23. Shreya Pal, 2024. "Do economic globalization and the level of education impede poverty levels? A non-linear ARDL approach," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(3), pages 621-667, September.
    24. Nasreddine Kaidi & Sami Mensi, 2020. "Financial Development, Income Inequality, and Poverty Reduction: Democratic Versus Autocratic Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(4), pages 1358-1381, December.
    25. Nasreddine Kaidi & Sami Mensi, 2018. "Financial Development and Poverty Reduction: A Study of Middle-Income Countries," Working Papers 1216, Economic Research Forum, revised 05 Sep 2018.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    financial development; poverty alleviation; income distribution; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General

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