IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/4330.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Big bad banks ? the impact of U.S. branch deregulation on income distribution

Author

Listed:
  • Beck, Thorsten
  • Levine, Ross
  • Levkov, Alexey

Abstract

Policymakers and economists disagree about the impact of bank regulations on the distribution of income. Exploiting cross-state and cross-time variation, the authors test whether liberalizing restrictions on intra-state branching in the United States intensified, ameliorated, or had no effect on income distribution. The analysis finds that branch deregulation lowered income inequality by affecting labor market conditions, not by boosting the business income of the poor, nor by enhancing educational attainment. Reductions in the earnings gap between men and women and between skilled and unskilled workers account for the bulk of the explained drop in income inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Levkov, Alexey, 2007. "Big bad banks ? the impact of U.S. branch deregulation on income distribution," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4330, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4330
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2007/08/27/000158349_20070827140607/Rendered/PDF/wps4330.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra E. Black & Elizabeth Brainerd, 2004. "Importing Equality? The Impact of Globalization on Gender Discrimination," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 57(4), pages 540-559, July.
    2. Daron Acemoglu, 2008. "Oligarchic Versus Democratic Societies," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(1), pages 1-44, March.
    3. Jayaratne, Jith & Strahan, Philip E, 1998. "Entry Restrictions, Industry Evolution, and Dynamic Efficiency: Evidence from Commercial Banking," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(1), pages 239-273, April.
    4. Mincer, Jacob & Polachek, Solomon, 1974. "Family Investment in Human Capital: Earnings of Women," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(2), pages 76-108, Part II, .
    5. Katz, Lawrence F. & Autor, David H., 1999. "Changes in the wage structure and earnings inequality," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1463-1555, Elsevier.
    6. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Newman, Andrew F, 1993. "Occupational Choice and the Process of Development," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(2), pages 274-298, April.
    7. Viral V. Acharya & Jean Imbs & Jason Sturgess, 2011. "Finance and Efficiency: Do Bank Branching Regulations Matter?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 15(1), pages 135-172.
    8. Michal Jerzmanowski & Malhar Nabar, 2013. "Financial Development And Wage Inequality: Theory And Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 211-234, January.
    9. Sandra E. Black & Philip E. Strahan, 2002. "Entrepreneurship and Bank Credit Availability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2807-2833, December.
    10. Cecilia Garcia-Penalosa & Eve Caroli & Philippe Aghion, 1999. "Inequality and Economic Growth: The Perspective of the New Growth Theories," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1615-1660, December.
    11. Berger, Allen N. & Saunders, Anthony & Scalise, Joseph M. & Udell, Gregory F., 1998. "The effects of bank mergers and acquisitions on small business lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 187-229, November.
    12. Oded Galor & Joseph Zeira, 1993. "Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(1), pages 35-52.
    13. Susan McLaughlin, 1995. "The impact of interstate banking and branching reform: evidence from the states," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 1(May).
    14. Greenwood, Jeremy & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1990. "Financial Development, Growth, and the Distribution of Income," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 1076-1107, October.
    15. Randall S. Kroszner & Philip E. Strahan, 1999. "What Drives Deregulation? Economics and Politics of the Relaxation of Bank Branching Restrictions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1437-1467.
    16. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10091 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Donald T. Savage, 1993. "Interstate banking: a status report," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Dec, pages 1075-1089.
    18. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2004. "From Physical to Human Capital Accumulation: Inequality and the Process of Development," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(4), pages 1001-1026.
    19. Juhn, Chinhui & Murphy, Kevin M & Pierce, Brooks, 1993. "Wage Inequality and the Rise in Returns to Skill," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(3), pages 410-442, June.
    20. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    21. Casey B. Mulligan & Yona Rubinstein, 2004. "The Closing of the Gender Gap as a Roy Model Illusion," NBER Working Papers 10892, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Orley Ashenfelter & Timothy Hannan, 1986. "Sex Discrimination and Product Market Competition: The Case of the Banking Industry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(1), pages 149-173.
    23. Jith Jayaratne & Philip E. Strahan, 1996. "The Finance-Growth Nexus: Evidence from Bank Branch Deregulation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 639-670.
    24. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2006. "Das Human-Kapital: A Theory of the Demise of the Class Structure," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(1), pages 85-117.
    25. Sandra E. Black & Philip E. Strahan, 2001. "The Division of Spoils: Rent-Sharing and Discrimination in a Regulated Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 814-831, September.
    26. Flannery, Mark J., 1984. "The social costs of unit banking restrictions," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 237-249, March.
    27. Malhar Nabar & Michal Jerzmanowski, 2007. "Financial Development and Wage Inequality: Theory and Evidence from US States," 2007 Meeting Papers 890, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    28. Paul S. Calem, 1994. "The impact of geographic deregulation on small banks," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Nov, pages 17-31.
    29. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2007. "Finance, inequality and the poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 27-49, March.
    30. Claessens, Stijn & Perotti, Enrico, 2007. "Finance and inequality: Channels and evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 748-773, December.
    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. Martin Strieborny & Madina Kukenova, 2016. "Investment in Relationship-Specific Assets: Does Finance Matter?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1487-1515.
    2. Julian SCHMIED & Ana MARR, 2016. "Financial Inclusion And Poverty: The Case Of Peru," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 16(2), pages 29-40.
    3. Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross & Michalopoulos, Stelios, 2015. "Financial innovation and endogenous growth," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-24.
    4. Miriam Bruhn & Inessa Love, 2011. "Gender differences in the impact of banking services: evidence from Mexico," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 493-512, November.
    5. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    6. Guivanna Aguilar, 2011. "Microcrédito Y Crecimiento Regional En El Perú," Documentos de Trabajo / Working Papers 2011-317, Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
    7. Johan Graafland & Bert Ven, 2011. "The Credit Crisis and the Moral Responsibility of Professionals in Finance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 103(4), pages 605-619, November.
    8. Ghosh, Saibal, 2008. "Financial Inclusion and Financial Fragility: An Empirical Note," MPRA Paper 24252, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2011. "Nonlinearity in the financial developmentâincome inequality nexus," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 310-325, September.
    10. Hongbo Zhao & Xiao Zheng & Lin Yang, 2022. "Does Digital Inclusive Finance Narrow the Urban-Rural Income Gap through Primary Distribution and Redistribution?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, February.
    11. Catherine Schaumans & Frank Verboven, 2015. "Entry and Competition in Differentiated Products Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 97(1), pages 195-209, March.
    12. Bruhn, Miriam & Love, Inessa, 2009. "The economic impact of banking the unbanked : evidence from Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4981, The World Bank.
    13. 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.
    14. Thorsten Beck, 2009. "The Econometrics of Finance and Growth," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Terence C. Mills & Kerry Patterson (ed.), Palgrave Handbook of Econometrics, chapter 25, pages 1180-1209, Palgrave Macmillan.
    15. Bing Kuang & Jinjin Liu & Xiangyu Fan, 2022. "Has China’s Low-Carbon City Construction Enhanced the Green Utilization Efficiency of Urban Land?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-20, August.
    16. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2008. "Finance and economic opportunity," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4468, The World Bank.
    17. Ms. Corinne C Delechat & Ms. Monique Newiak & Rui Xu & Mr. Fan Yang & Goksu Aslan, 2018. "What is Driving Women’s Financial Inclusion Across Countries?," IMF Working Papers 2018/038, International Monetary Fund.
    18. Kwangbin Bae & Dongsook Han & Hosung Sohn, 2012. "Importance of Access to Finance in Reducing Income Inequality and Poverty Level," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 55-77, April.
    19. Michal Jerzmanowski & Malhar Nabar, 2013. "Financial Development And Wage Inequality: Theory And Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 211-234, January.
    20. Beck, T.H.L., 2008. "Financial Systems and Economic Development : What Have we Learned?," Other publications TiSEM 40833c09-83c6-447d-a32b-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    21. Sheng Xu & Michael Asiedu & Nana Adwoa Anokye Effah, 2023. "Inclusive Finance, Gender Inequality, and Sustainable Economic Growth in Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(4), pages 4866-4902, December.

    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. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    2. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2009. "Finance and Inequality: Theory and Evidence," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 287-318, November.
    3. Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov & Yona Rubinstein, 2008. "Racial Discrimination and Competition," NBER Working Papers 14273, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ọláyínká Oyèkọ́lá, 2021. "Finance and inequality in a panel of US States," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(5), pages 2739-2795, November.
    5. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Firm Size, and Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(7), pages 1379-1405, October.
    6. Popov, Alexander, 2017. "Evidence on finance and economic growth," Working Paper Series 2115, European Central Bank.
    7. D’Onofrio, Alexandra & Minetti, Raoul & Murro, Pierluigi, 2019. "Banking development, socioeconomic structure and income inequality," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 428-451.
    8. Anne Beck & Sebastian Doerr, 2023. "The financial origins of regional inequality," BIS Working Papers 1151, Bank for International Settlements.
    9. Berger, Allen N. & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Roman, Raluca A., 2022. "Geographic deregulation and banks’ cost of equity capital," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    10. Seven, Unal & Coskun, Yener, 2016. "Does financial development reduce income inequality and poverty? Evidence from emerging countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 34-63.
    11. Claessens, Stijn & Perotti, Enrico, 2007. "Finance and inequality: Channels and evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 748-773, December.
    12. Michał Jerzmanowski, 2017. "Finance and sources of growth: evidence from the U.S. states," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 97-122, March.
    13. Berger, Allen N. & Chen, Ruiyuan (Ryan) & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane, 2020. "Who wins and who loses from bank geographic deregulation? Analysis of financially constrained and unconstrained firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Muhammad Shahbaz & Mita Bhattacharya & Mantu Kumar Mahalik, 2017. "Finance and income inequality in Kazakhstan: evidence since transition with policy suggestions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(52), pages 5337-5351, November.
    15. Simplice Asongu & Rexon Nting, 2021. "The role of finance in inclusive human development in Africa revisited," Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 345-370, February.
    16. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2015. "Finance and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa," MPRA Paper 71787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Anna Lo Prete, 2018. "Inequality and the finance you know: does economic literacy matter?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 183-205, April.
    18. Boustanifar, Hamid, 2014. "Finance and employment: Evidence from U.S. banking reforms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 343-354.
    19. Kim, Dong-Hyeon & Lin, Shu-Chin, 2023. "Income inequality, inflation and financial development," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 468-487.
    20. Dirk Bezemer & Anna Samarina, 2019. "Debt shift, financial development and income inequality," DNB Working Papers 646, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emerging Markets; Economic Theory&Research; Inequality; Fiscal&Monetary Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:4330. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.