Finance and the sources of growth

The authors evaluate whether the level of development in the banking sector exerts a causal impact on economic growth and its sources-total factor productivity growth, physical capital accumulation, and private saving. They use (1) a pure cross-country instrumental variable estimator to extract the exogenous component of banking development and (2) a new panel technique that controls for country-specific effects and endogeneity. They find that: Banks do exert a large, causal impact on total factor productivity growth, which feeds through to overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth. The long-run links between banking development and both capital growth and private savings are more tenuous.