A sound and efficient financial system is an indispensable ingredient of economic growth. It consists primarily of banks and capital markets, which channel savings into investments and other productive activities that contribute to economic growth and augment the economy's productive capacity....

Recent key challenges highlight the need to revisit Asia's financial development. These include the region's growth slowdown since the global crisis, compounded by a less benign external environment; internal structural challenges, such as population aging; and the maturing of much of the region...

We examine the determinants of financial development in Asia and the Pacific from 1995 to 2011. To do so, we apply the dynamic generalized method of moments to a panel data set of 26 economies in the region. We find that better governance and institutional quality foster financial development in...

The central objective of our paper is to empirically examine the relationship between financial development and income inequality. Theoretically, there are grounds for both a positive and negative relationship between the two variables. Our main finding is that financial development contributes...

We construct an index of financial development for 23 Asian economies based on subindices of access, depth, and efficiency of financial institutions and markets and find evidence that economies with weaker financial systems are catching up to the Asian benchmark economies, namely Hong Kong,...

The finance sector is the lifeblood of any economy and its smooth functioning is central to rapid and inclusive economic growth. A well-functioning financial system must intermediate efficiently between savers and borrowers; manage risks prudently; provide a wide variety of financial services to...

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of financial sector development, with a view to deepening understanding of the rationale of development assistance to the financial sector of developing countries. The review leads to the following broad conclusions: (i)...

Postcrisis policy responses tilted in favor of strengthening the global regulatory system and financial stability have limited the attention paid to the role of finance in supporting sustained economic growth and development. This has special implications for Asia which, despite being the new...

This paper assesses the role of consumption and saving in Asia's growth. It examines the composition of national saving, analyzes what forces drive saving rates, and draws policy conclusions from the analysis that are relevant for the economies in the region and which might play an important...