Although research shows that financial development accelerates aggregate economic growth, economists have not resolved conflicting theoretical predictions and ongoing policy disputes about the cross-firm distributional effects of financial development. Using cross-industry, cross-country data,...

This paper provides evidence that commercial banks have benefited greatly from official monies made available directly to developing countries or indirectly to the multilateral lending agencies. In particular, the stock market capitalization of creditor banks worldwide rose by about $6.2 billion...

This paper examines the impact of bank regulations, market structure, and national institutions on bank net interest margins and overhead costs using data on over 1400 banks across 72 countries while controlling for bank-specific characteristics. The data indicate that tighter regulations on...

Using a unique database for 74 countries and for firms of small, medium, and large size we assess the effect of banking market structure on the access of firms to bank finance. We find that bank concentration increases obstacles to obtaining finance, but only in countries with low levels of...