Finance and Growth: What We Know and What We Need To Know

The paper reviews recent literature on the relationship between finance and growth, highlighting areas where we need to know more. The paper argues that institutions, such as financial regulation, have a first-order effect on financial development and growth, and that their effectiveness could determine the success or failure of policies like bank privatisation or financial liberalisation. It concludes that a better understanding of the obstacles to financial development, which include institutional, legal and political economy constraints, is needed.