[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/upafin/10-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The African Financial Development Gap

Author

Listed:
  • Allen, Franklin

    (University of PA)

  • Carletti, Elena

    (European University Institute)

  • Cull, Robert

    (World Bank)

  • Qian, Jun

    (Boston College)

  • Senbet, Lemma

    (University of MD)

Abstract
Economic growth in Africa has long been disappointing. We document that the financial sectors of most sub-Saharan African countries remain significantly underdeveloped by the standards of other developing countries. We examine the factors that are associated with financial development in Africa and compare them with those in other developing countries. Population density appears to be considerably more important for banking sector development in Africa than elsewhere. Given the high costs of developing viable banking sectors outside metropolitan areas, technology advances, such as mobile banking, could be a promising way to facilitate African financial development. Similarly to other developing countries, natural resources endowment is associated with a lower level of financial development in Africa, but macro policies do not appear to be an important determinant.

Suggested Citation

  • Allen, Franklin & Carletti, Elena & Cull, Robert & Qian, Jun & Senbet, Lemma, 2010. "The African Financial Development Gap," Working Papers 10-18, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:upafin:10-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/10/10-18.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Loayza, Norman V. & Ranciere, Romain, 2006. "Financial Development, Financial Fragility, and Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(4), pages 1051-1076, June.
    2. Patrick Honohan & Thorsten Beck, 2007. "Making Finance Work for Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6626.
    3. Kulwant Rai & Herman Kamil, 2010. "The Global Credit Crunch and Foreign Banks’ Lending to Emerging Markets: Why Did Latin America Fare Better?," IMF Working Papers 2010/102, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Cull, Robert & Senbet, Lemma W & Sorge, Marco, 2005. "Deposit Insurance and Financial Development," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 37(1), pages 43-82, February.
    5. Stijn Claessens & Luc Laeven, 2004. "What drives bank competition? Some international evidence," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 563-592.
    6. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    7. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    8. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 5398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    10. Barth,James R. & Caprio,Gerard & Levine,Ross, 2008. "Rethinking Bank Regulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521709309, September.
    11. Levine, Ross, 2005. "Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 12, pages 865-934, Elsevier.
    12. Ross Levine & Norman Loayza & Thorsten Beck, 2002. "Financial Intermediation and Growth: Causality and Causes," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Leonardo Hernández & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel & Norman Loayza (Series Editor) & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel (Se (ed.),Banking, Financial Integration, and International Crises, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 2, pages 031-084, Central Bank of Chile.
    13. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Government Ownership of Banks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 265-301, February.
    14. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2005. "SMEs, Growth, and Poverty: Cross-Country Evidence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 199-229, September.
    15. Enrica Detragiache & Thierry Tressel & Poonam Gupta, 2008. "Foreign Banks in Poor Countries: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2123-2160, October.
    16. Claessens, Stijn & Demirguc-Kunt, Asl[iota] & Huizinga, Harry, 2001. "How does foreign entry affect domestic banking markets?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 891-911, May.
    17. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, February.
    18. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    19. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, 2004. "SMEs, Growth, and Poverty," World Bank Publications - Reports 11278, The World Bank Group.
    20. Ashoka Mody & Maria Soledad Martinez Peria, 2004. "How foreign participation and market concentration impact bank spreads: evidence from Latin America," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 511-542.
    21. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale (ed.), 2008. "Financial Crises," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3141.
    22. Allen, Franklin & Otchere, Isaac & Senbet, Lemma W., 2010. "African Financial Systems: A Review," Working Papers 10-11, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    23. James R. Barth & Gerard Caprio Jr. & Ross Levine, 2001. "Banking Systems around the Globe: Do Regulation and Ownership Affect Performance and Stability?," NBER Chapters, in: Prudential Supervision: What Works and What Doesn't, pages 31-96, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Barth, James R. & Caprio, Gerard Jr. & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Bank regulation and supervision: what works best?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 205-248, April.
    25. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Vadym Volosovych, 2008. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 347-368, May.
    26. William F. Maloney & Daniel Lederman, 2008. "In search of the Missing Resource Curse," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2008), pages 1-57, August.
    27. Lant Pritchett, 1997. "Divergence, Big Time," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 3-17, Summer.
    28. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Vadym Volosovych, 2008. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 347-368, May.
    29. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2000. "A New Database on the Structure and Development of the Financial Sector," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(3), pages 597-605, September.
    30. Beck, Thorsten & Feyen, Erik & Ize, Alain & Moizeszowicz, Florencia, 2008. "Benchmarking financial development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4638, The World Bank.
    31. Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 2001. "The curse of natural resources," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 827-838, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jacob Kolster, 2015. "North Africa - Working paper - Does foreign direct investment improve welfare in North African countries?," Working Paper Series 2162, African Development Bank.
    2. Franklin Allen & Elena Carletti & Robert Cull & Jun ‘QJ’ Qian & Lemma Senbet & Patricio Valenzuela, 2014. "The African Financial Development and Financial Inclusion Gaps," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 23(5), pages 614-642.
    3. Beck, Thorsten & Cull, Robert & Fuchs, Michael & Getenga, Jared & Gatere, Peter & Randa, John & Trandafir, Mircea, 2010. "Banking sector stability, efficiency, and outreach in Kenya," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5442, The World Bank.
    4. Gohou, Gaston & Soumaré, Issouf, 2012. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Reduce Poverty in Africa and are There Regional Differences?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 75-95.
    5. Thorsten Beck & Samuel Munzele Maimbo, 2013. "Financial Sector Development in Africa : Opportunities and Challenges," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 11881.
    6. Acheampong, Alex O., 2019. "Modelling for insight: Does financial development improve environmental quality?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 156-179.
    7. Isaac Otchere & Issouf Soumaré & Pierre Yourougou, 2016. "FDI and Financial Market Development in Africa," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 651-678, May.
    8. Josephine Ofosu‐Mensah Ababio & Edward Attah‐Botchwey & Eric Osei‐Assibey & Charles Barnor, 2021. "Financial inclusion and human development in frontier countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 42-59, January.
    9. Issouf Soumaré & Fulbert Tchana Tchana, 2015. "Causality between FDI and Financial Market Development: Evidence from Emerging Markets," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(suppl_1), pages 205-216.
    10. Munisi, Gibson & Hermes, Niels & Randøy, Trond, 2014. "Corporate boards and ownership structure: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 785-796.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Franklin Allen & Elena Carletti & Robert Cull & Jun Qian & Lemma Senbet & Patricio Valenzuela, 2014. "Resolving the African Financial Development Gap: Cross-Country Comparisons and a Within-Country Study of Kenya," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume III: Modernization and Development, pages 13-62, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Beck, Thorsten, 2006. "Creating an efficient financial system : challenges in a global economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3856, The World Bank.
    3. World Bank, 2007. "Bangladesh : Strategy for Sustained Growth, Volume 1. Summary Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 7765, The World Bank Group.
    4. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Financial Sector Policies, and Long-Run Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28021.
    5. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Finance and economic development : policy choices for developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3955, The World Bank.
    6. Beck, Thorsten & Rahman, Md. Habibur, 2006. "Creating a more efficient financial system : challenges for Bangladesh," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3938, The World Bank.
    7. Thorsten Beck & Samuel Munzele Maimbo & Issa Faye & Thouraya Triki, 2011. "Financing Africa : Through the Crisis and Beyond," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2355.
    8. Popov, Alexander, 2017. "Evidence on finance and economic growth," Working Paper Series 2115, European Central Bank.
    9. Michiel Bijlsma & Andrei Dubovik, 2014. "Banks, Financial Markets and Growth in Developed Countries: a Survey of the empirical literature," CPB Discussion Paper 266, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Chris Doucouliagos & Jakob de Haan & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2022. "What drives financial development? A Meta-regression analysis [A new database of financial reforms]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 840-868.
    11. Beck Thorsten & Büyükkarabacak Berrak & Rioja Felix K. & Valev Neven T., 2012. "Who Gets the Credit? And Does It Matter? Household vs. Firm Lending Across Countries," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-46, March.
    12. Payam Hanafizadeh & Seyedali Marjaie, 2020. "Trends and turning points of banking: a timespan view," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(6), pages 1183-1219, December.
    13. Michiel Bijlsma & Andrei Dubovik, 2014. "Banks, Financial Markets and Growth in Developed Countries: a Survey of the empirical literature," CPB Discussion Paper 266.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    14. Frederic S. Mishkin, 2007. "Is Financial Globalization Beneficial?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(2‐3), pages 259-294, March.
    15. Papaioannou, Elias, 2007. "Finance and growth: a macroeconomic assessment of the evidence from a European angle," Working Paper Series 787, European Central Bank.
    16. Manthos D. Delis & Sotirios Kokas & Steven Ongena, 2016. "Foreign Ownership and Market Power in Banking: Evidence from a World Sample," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(2-3), pages 449-483, March.
    17. Massimiliano Affinito, 2011. "Convergence clubs, the euro-area rank and the relationship between banking and real convergence," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 809, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    18. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2006. "Bank supervision and corruption in lending," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(8), pages 2131-2163, November.
    19. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Luc Laeven & Ross Levine, 2008. "Finance, Firm Size, and Growth," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(7), pages 1379-1405, October.
    20. Lavezzolo, Sebastián, 2020. "Political regimes and bank interest margins," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(2).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G00 - Financial Economics - - General - - - General
    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • O50 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ecl:upafin:10-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wcupaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.