Financial development, economic growth and crises

The importance of financial markets in a globalised economy cannot be overstated. An obvious example is the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, the consequences of which were not just confined to the United States but spread to almost all developed economies in the world. On a daily basis movement in the world's stock, bond, commodity and currency markets can be affected by as diverse factors as a revision to the inflation rate in China, an unexpected European Union meeting on the Euro or the announcement of company earnings in the U.S. The link between financial markets and the real economy, the increased volatility in financial markets, and the repercussions of financial crises are issues of great interest to economic agents (policymakers, firms, households) around the world. However, they are of even greater significance to developing nations, as they try to raise their living standards. The research presented in this thesis aims to inform the discussion on the pertinence of financial development for economic growth. Following a brief introduction, Chapter 2 sets the scene by reviewing the neo- classical growth models and endogenous growth theory. The rationale for focusing v - on the role of financial development is discussed next followed by all evaluation of the empirical evidence. Chapter 3 concentrates on the measurement of financial de- velopment. Existing measures are examined and a new measure is introduced using the latest available data for the largest possible number of economies. The principal components methodology, which reduces the dimensionality of the data, is used for the construction of this new measure. This is then used to revisit the empirical relationship between financial development and growth in Chapter 4. The method- ology employed is that of least squares dummy variables (LSDV) estimation, and the issue of potential endogeneity is explored through the use of two-stage ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalised method of moments (GMM). Chapter 5 undertakes a large sample analysis to address the relationship between financial development, and the likelihood of financial crises and chapter 6 summaries the findings from this work and discusses limitations and possible extensions. VI.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo