Analysis of a panel data set for 1976-98 shows that on balance stock markets and banks positively influence economic growth; findings that do not result from biases induced by simultaneity, omitted variables, or unobserved country-specific effects

How the relative development of a country's stock market and banking system affects firms' growth is closely tied to how well developed the country's contracting environment is. How differences in the contracting environment affect the relative development of the stock market or banking system...