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Re-examining the finance–institutions–growth nexus: does financial integration matter?

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Abstract

This study examines whether financial integration affects the finance–institutions–growth nexus using a sample of 145 countries from 1995 to 2021. Financial globalization continues to be a dominant phenomenon, despite the concerns on contagion and capital flight issues. We argue that financial integration can potentially crowd out the positive growth effects from both financial development and institutions. Using a dynamic panel estimator to control for endogeneity and simultaneity and multidimensional measures of financial development, institutional quality, and financial integration, we find a nonlinear relationship. More specifically, financial integration is growth-enhancing up to a threshold. Additionally, we find the marginal effects of finance and institutions to be insignificant above this threshold.

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Notes

  1. Available at: https://data.imf.org/?sk=f8032e80-b36c-43b1-ac26-493c5b1cd33b.

  2. Available at: https://kof.ethz.ch/en/forecasts-and-indicators/indicators/kof-globalisation-index.html.

  3. Available at: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp1605.pdf.

  4. We calculate the threshold as such:\({\text{Threshold~level}}\left( {{\text{fint}}_{{{\text{it}}}} } \right) = \beta _{3} /\left( {2 \times \beta _{4} } \right)\) .

  5. We examine the marginal effects at 50% above and below the threshold arbitrarily.

  6. \(\frac{{\partial y_{{it}} }}{{\partial fd_{{it}}^{j} }} = \beta _{1} + \beta _{4} {\text{fint}}_{{it}} {\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} {\text{and}}{\kern 1pt} {\kern 1pt} \frac{{\partial y_{{it}} }}{{\partial ins_{{it}} }} = \beta _{2} + \beta _{4} {\text{fint}}_{{it}}\).

  7. While the system GMM model is an efficient estimator and reduce biased estimates, we report the Driscoll–Kraay estimator for comparative purposes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the direction of the editor, Professor George Hondroyiannis, and the suggestions provided by two anonymous referees.

Funding

This work is supported by the Universiti of Brunei Darussalam FIC Research Grant [UBD/RSCH/1.8/FICBF(b)/2021/022].

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The usual disclaimer applies. The literature review and methodology section are adapted from Haini (2019) available at: https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/thesis/Investigating_growth_determinants_in_China_s_provinces_the_role_of_spatial_spillovers/9204578/1.

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Appendices

Appendix

A1: Country list

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zambia.

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Haini, H., Razak, L.A., Wei Loon, P. et al. Re-examining the finance–institutions–growth nexus: does financial integration matter?. Econ Change Restruct 56, 1895–1924 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10644-023-09498-5

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