Financial development and economic growth: A review and new evidence

Abstract

In recent years there has been substantial theoretical and empirical work on the role that financial markets play in fostering economic growth and development. This paper provides a selective review of the literature, as well as new empirical evidence on the relationship betiveen financial development and economic growth for a large sample of countries. While the results indicate that the effect of financial development on growth is positive, the size of the effect varies with different indicators of financial development, estimation method, data frequency and the functional form of the relationship. © Centre for the Study of AfricanEconomies 2003; all rights reserved.