NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES FINANCE AND GROWTH: THEORY AND EVIDENCE Ross Levine Working Paper 10766 http://www.nber.org/papers/w10766 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 September 2004 This paper is being prepared for the Handbook of Economic Growth. Philippe Aghion, Thorsten Beck, John Boyd, Maria Carkovic, Asli Demirguc-Kunt, John Kareken, Luc Laeven, Raghu Rajan, Bruce Smith, and Luigi Zingales provided helpful comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research. ©2004 by Ross Levine. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence Ross Levine NBER Working Paper No. 10766 September 2004 JEL No. G0, O0 ABSTRACT This paper reviews, appraises, and critiques theoretical and empirical research on the connections between the operation of the financial system and economic growth. While subject to ample qualifications and countervailing views, the preponderance of evidence suggests that both financial intermediaries and markets matter for growth and that reverse causality alone is not driving this relationship. Furthermore, theory and evidence imply that better developed financial systems ease external financing constraints facing firms, which illuminates one mechanism through which financial development influences economic growth. The paper highlights many areas needing additional research. Ross Levine Carlson School of Management University of Minnesota 321 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 and NBER
[email protected] 1 I. Introduction Economists disagree sharply about the role of the financial sector in economic growth.