Sunday, 8 April 2018

Growth and Inequality Effects of Decades of Financial Transformation in OECD Countries

an article by Boris Cournède and Catherine L. Mann (OECD Economics Department, Paris, France) published in Comparative Economic Studies Volume 60 Issue 1 (March 2018)

Abstract

Finance has massively expanded and deeply changed across OECD countries over the past 50 years. Rapid growth of finance has been accompanied by a debt shift away from business towards household credit and, after 2000, a withering of equity capital.

Econometric investigations indicate that these changes have contributed to slowing down potential growth.

In OECD countries, higher credit/GDP ratios imply slower trend growth, especially when lending goes to households; by contrast, additional stockmarket funding boosts growth.

Moreover, these trends have contributed to widening inequalities.

There is a case for policymakers to focus on macro-prudential policy tools that optimise growth-stability trade-offs.

JEL Classification: D14, D63, G1, G2


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