Creative Destruction with Credit Inflation

We propose creative destruction as the channel for inflation to impact growth. The banks reap revenue from higher rates of credit growth, attracting more labor into banks and decreasing the profit of entrepreneurs. But when the revenue is achieved by issuing more credit to entrepreneurs, part of the revenue goes to entrepreneurs, attracting more resources into R&D. When banks retain a larger share of the revenue, the former effect dominates and credit inflation retards growth. When entrepreneurs get the larger share, the latter effect dominates and credit inflation increases growth. The welfare implications are also analyzed. Empirical evidence from the U.S. and China is provided.