The Impact of Bank and Non-Bank Financial Institutions on Local Economic Growth in China

This paper provides evidence on the relationship between finance and growth in a fast growing country, such as China. Employing data of 27 Chinese provinces over the period 1995-2003, we study whether the financial development of two different types of institutions - banks and non-bank financial institutions - have a (significantly different) impact on local economic growth.Our findings indicate that only banking development shows a statistically significant and economically relevant impact on local economic growth