The finance-growth nexus revisited: From origins to a modern theoretical landscape

Abstract

The paper recounts the history of the finance-growth nexus research from its origins to the yearly 1990s. The contributions are analyzed in connection with the socioeconomic context and advances in economic theory. Many ideas first expressed decades ago are still subject to constant discussions and empirical checks, for example, causality direction between finance and economic growth which appeared on the agenda in the mid-1960s. Data improvement and theoretical advances, namely, breakthroughs in the economic theory of information in conjunction with endogenous growth models and growth regressions, shaped the modern landscape of this research program in the early 1990s. © Author(s) 2012.