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Formal versus Informal Finance: Evidence from China

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take a closer look at firm financing patterns and growth using a database of 2,400 Chinese firms and find that a relatively small percentage of firms in the sample utilize formal bank finance with a much greater reliance on informal sources.
Abstract: China is often mentioned as a counter-example to the findings in the finance and growth literature since, despite the weaknesses in its banking system, it is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The fast growth of Chinese private sector firms is taken as evidence that it is alternative financing and governance mechanisms that support China's growth. This paper takes a closer look at firm financing patterns and growth using a database of 2,400 Chinese firms. The authors find that a relatively small percentage of firms in the sample utilize formal bank finance with a much greater reliance on informal sources. However, the results suggest that despite its weaknesses, financing from the formal financial system is associated with faster firm growth, whereas fund raising from alternative channels is not. Using a selection model, the authors find no evidence that these results arise because of the selection of firms that have access to the formal financial system. Although firms report bank corruption, there is no evidence that it significantly affects the allocation of credit or the performance of firms that receive the credit. The findings suggest that the role of reputation and relationship based financing and governance mechanisms in financing the fastest growing firms in China is likely to be overestimated.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate how financial and institutional development affects the financing of large and small firms and find that protection of property rights increases external financing of small firms significantly more than of large firms, mainly due to its effect on bank finance.

1,109 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors examined China's savings rate, corporate ownership structures, and bank-dominated capital allocation and found that the most active players have incentives to conduct excessive outward FDI while capital constraints limit players that most likely have value-creating FDI opportunities.
Abstract: Recent economic data reveal that, at the infant stage, China's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) is biased towards tax havens and Southeast Asian countries and are mostly conducted by state-controlled enterprises with government sanctioned monopoly status. Further examination of China's savings rate, corporate ownership structures, and bank-dominated capital allocation suggests that, although a surge in China's outward FDI might be economically sensible, the most active players have incentives to conduct excessive outward FDI while capital constraints limit players that most likely have value-creating FDI opportunities. We then discuss plausible firm-level justifications for China's outward FDI, its importance, and promising avenues for further research.

760 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the firm characteristics associated with innovation in over 19,000 firms across 47 developing economies and find that access to external financing is associated with greater firm innovation.
Abstract: We investigate the firm characteristics associated with innovation in over 19,000 firms across 47 developing economies. While existing finance literature on innovation is limited to large public firms in developed markets such as the United States, our database includes public and private firms, and small and medium-sized enterprises. We define innovation broadly to include introduction of new products and technologies, knowledge transfers, and new production processes. We find that access to external financing is associated with greater firm innovation. Further, having highly educated managers, ownership by families, individuals, or managers, and exposure to foreign competition is associated with greater firm innovation.

596 citations


Cites background from "Formal versus Informal Finance: Evi..."

  • ...…Ayyagari, Demirgüç-Kunt, and Maksimovic (2008)), firm financing patterns (e.g., Beck, Demirgüç-Kunt, and Maksimovic (2008), Cull and Xu (2005), and Ayyagari, Demirgüç-Kunt, and Maksimovic (2010b)), dispute resolution via courts (e.g., Djankov, La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, and Shleifer…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated whether environmental regulation affects inbound foreign direct investment and found that tougher environmental regulation leads to less FDI in countries with better environmental protections than China.

554 citations


Cites background from "Formal versus Informal Finance: Evi..."

  • ...For example, a major source of startup capital comes from informal financing, such as family wealth and borrowings from relatives and friends, as non-SOEs are discriminated against bank loans due to the financial repression system (e.g., Allen et al., 2005; Ayyagari et al., 2008)....

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BookDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the contribution of small firms to employment, job creation, and growth in developing countries, and found that small firms have the largest shares of job creation and highest sales growth and employment growth, even after controlling for firm age.
Abstract: This paper investigates the contribution of small firms to employment, job creation, and growth in developing countries. While small firms (< 20 employees) have the smallest share of aggregate employment, the SME sector's (<100 employees) contribution is comparable to that of large firms. Small firms have the largest shares of job creation, and highest sales growth and employment growth, even after controlling for firm age. Large firms, however, have higher productivity growth. Conditional on size, young firms are the fastest growing and large mature firms have the largest employment shares but small young firms have higher job creation rates.

472 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the bias that results from using non-randomly selected samples to estimate behavioral relationships as an ordinary specification error or "omitted variables" bias is discussed, and the asymptotic distribution of the estimator is derived.
Abstract: Sample selection bias as a specification error This paper discusses the bias that results from using non-randomly selected samples to estimate behavioral relationships as an ordinary specification error or «omitted variables» bias. A simple consistent two stage estimator is considered that enables analysts to utilize simple regression methods to estimate behavioral functions by least squares methods. The asymptotic distribution of the estimator is derived.

23,995 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors discusses the central role of propensity scores and balancing scores in the analysis of observational studies and shows that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates.
Abstract: : The results of observational studies are often disputed because of nonrandom treatment assignment. For example, patients at greater risk may be overrepresented in some treatment group. This paper discusses the central role of propensity scores and balancing scores in the analysis of observational studies. The propensity score is the (estimated) conditional probability of assignment to a particular treatment given a vector of observed covariates. Both large and small sample theory show that adjustment for the scalar propensity score is sufficient to remove bias due to all observed covariates. Applications include: matched sampling on the univariate propensity score which is equal percent bias reducing under more general conditions than required for discriminant matching, multivariate adjustment by subclassification on balancing scores where the same subclasses are used to estimate treatment effects for all outcome variables and in all subpopulations, and visual representation of multivariate adjustment by a two-dimensional plot. (Author)

23,744 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined a cross-section of about 80 countries for the period 1960-89 and found that various measures of financial development are strongly associated with both current and later rates of economic growth.
Abstract: Joseph Schumpeter argued in 1911 that the services provided by financial intermediaries - mobilizing savings, evaluating projects, managing risk, monitoring managers, and facilitating transactions -stimulate technological innovation and economic development. The authors present evidence that supports this view. Examining a cross-section of about 80 countries for the period 1960-89, they find that various measures of financial development are strongly associated with both current and later rates of economic growth. Each measure has shortcomings but all tell the same story: finance matters. They present three main findings, which are robust to many specification tests: The average level of financial development for 1960-89 is very strongly associated with growth for the period. Financial development precedes growth. For example, financial depth in 1960 (the ratio of broad money to GDP) is positively and significantly related to real per capita GDP growth over the next 30 years even after controlling for a variety of country-specific characteristics and policy indicators. Financial development is positively associated with both investment rate and the efficiency with which economies use capital. Much work remains to be done, but the data are consistent with Schumpeter's view that the services provided by financial intermediaries stimulate long-run growth.

8,204 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a theory of financial intermediation based on minimizing the cost of monitoring information which is useful for resolving incentive problems between borrowers and lenders, and presented a characterization of the costs of providing incentives for delegated monitoring by a financial intermediary.
Abstract: This paper develops a theory of financial intermediation based on minimizing the cost of monitoring information which is useful for resolving incentive problems between borrowers and lenders. It presents a characterization of the costs of providing incentives for delegated monitoring by a financial intermediary. Diversification within an intermediary serves to reduce these costs, even in a risk neutral economy. The paper presents some more general analysis of the effect of diversification on resolving incentive problems. In the environment assumed in the model, debt contracts with costly bankruptcy are shown to be optimal. The analysis has implications for the portfolio structure and capital structure of intermediaries.

7,982 citations


"Formal versus Informal Finance: Evi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…versus informal financing in China overlaps with two commonly used definitions: the definition from the financial intermediation literature (e.g., Diamond 1984; Berger and Udell 1998) that informal financing is not associated with a delegated monitor, unlike formal financing,19 and the…...

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ReportDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined whether financial development facilitates economic growth by scrutinizing one rationale for such a relationship; that financial development reduces the costs of external finance to firms, and found that industrial sectors that are relatively more in need of foreign finance develop disproportionately faster in countries with more developed financial markets.
Abstract: Does finance affect economic growth? A number of studies have identified a positive correlation between the level of development of a country's financial sector and the rate of growth of its per capita income. As has been noted elsewhere, the observed correlation does not necessarily imply a causal relationship. This paper examines whether financial development facilitates economic growth by scrutinizing one rationale for such a relationship; that financial development reduces the costs of external finance to firms. Specifically, we ask whether industrial sectors that are relatively more in need of external finance develop disproportionately faster in countries with more developed financial markets. We find this to be true in a large sample of countries over the 1980s. We show this result is unlikely to be driven by omitted variables, outliers, or reverse causality.

6,815 citations