Growth Volatility and Financial Repression: Time Series Evidence from India

The main objective of this paper is to explore the determinants of private consumption volatility in India. While considerable effort has been expended on the examining the relationship between growth and volatility, we focus on financial repression and private consumption volatility in India. Using annual time series data, the results show that the implementation of financial repressionist policies are strongly associated with lower consumption volatility in India. The results remain robust after controlling for a wide range of macroeconomic shocks and variables. Additional analysis which involves examining each component of private consumption provides further evidence to support this finding. The presence of a threshold effect suggests that the benefits of financial openness in dampening consumption volatility can only be reaped when India becomes sufficiently liberalized.Growth volatility; financial repression; India

Savings Mobilization, Financial Development and Liberalization: The Case of Malaysia

This paper attempts to identify the key factors behind Malaysia’s remarkable savings performance. Drawing on the life cycle theory, the saving function is estimated by incorporating other relevant structural features and institutional settings of the Malaysian economy into the specification. Particular emphasis has been placed on the roles of financial factors in mobilizing funds in the private sector. The results suggest that financial deepening and increased banking density tend to encourage private savings. Development of insurance markets and liberalization of the financial system, however, tend to exert a dampening effect on private savings.private savings; financial development; Malaysia; ARDL bounds test

Financial Liberalization and the Aid-Growth Relationship in India

This paper examines the impact of foreign aid in the process of economic development in India by controlling for the degree of financial liberalization. A composite index is constructed using the method of principal component analysis to capture the joint influence of various policies imposed on the Indian financial system. The results show that while foreign aid exerts a direct negative influence on output expansion, its indirect effect via financial liberalization is positive. Therefore, an important implication of the findings in this paper is that greater openness in the financial system of the host country is a crucial prerequisite to realize the effectiveness of foreign aid. Our results are robust to a number of control variables and estimation techniques.Aid; financial liberalization; India

The Saving-Investment Dynamics And Financial Sector Reforms in India

While many developing countries have reformed their financial systems over the last few decades, how an increased level of financial liberalization affects the saving-investment relationship remains unclear. This paper examines the dynamic relationship between the domestic saving and investment rates in India by controlling for the level of financial liberalization. Using data over the period 1950-2005, the results indicate that greater financial liberalization enables more domestic resources to be channeled to investment activities.Saving; Investment; Financial Liberalization; India

Financial Liberalization Or Repression?

While financial liberalization has always been advocated in developing countries, experiences with it do not always produce desirable outcomes. In order to evaluate the costs and benefits associated with financial liberalization and repression, this study highlights that the overall effectiveness of the reform programs depends on the relative strength of each financial sector policy implemented. Using India as a case study, the results indicate that interest rate controls, statutory liquidity requirements and directed credit programs positively affect the level of financial development. A rise in cash reserve requirements appears to have an adverse effect on development of the financial system. The results lend some support to the argument that some form of financial restraints may help promote financial development.Financial development; financial liberalization

Financial Liberalization and Income Inequality

This paper examines the causal relationship between financial liberalization and income inequality using India as a case study. The results indicate that there exists a robust long-run relationship between financial liberalization and income inequality, and their causal relationship is a bi-directional one.Financial liberalization, income inequality

Financial Reforms, Patent Protection and Knowledge Accumulation in India

The main objective of this paper is to explore the impact of financial sector reforms, financial deepening and intellectual property protection on the accumulation of knowledge for one of the world’s largest developing countries. The findings indicate that increased intellectual property rights protection is associated with higher knowledge accumulation. While financial deepening facilitates the accumulation of ideas, the implementation of a series of financial liberalization policies is found to have a non-linear effect. The results show that financial liberalization will exert a beneficial impact on technological deepening only if the financial system is sufficiently liberalized.financial liberalization; ideas production; endogenous growth; India.

PRIVATE INVESTMENT AND FINANCIAL SECTOR POLICIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper examines the role of financial sector policies in determining private investment in the economies of India and Malaysia. The results suggest that the presence of significant directed credit programs favoring certain priority sectors in the economies appear to be harmful for private capital formation in both countries. Interest rate controls seem to have a positive impact on investment in the private sector, and the effect is found to be stronger in India. While high reserve and liquidity requirements exert a negative influence on private investment in India, the effect is found to be positive in Malaysia.Private investment; financial sector policies; India; Malaysia.

A SURVEY OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITERATURE OF FINANCE AND GROWTH

This paper provides a survey of the recent progress in the literature of financial development and economic growth. The survey highlights that most empirical studies focus on either testing the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth or examining the direction of causality between these two variables. Although the positive role of finance on growth has become a stylized fact, there are some methodological reservations about the results from these empirical studies. Several key issues unresolved in the literature are highlighted. The paper also points to several directions for future research.Financial development; financial liberalization; economic growth.

PRIVATE SAVING IN INDIA AND MALAYSIA COMPARED: THE ROLE OF FINANCIAL LIBERALIZATION AND EXPECTED PENSION BENEFITS

In this paper, we provide a comparative account of the evolution of private saving in India and Malaysia, and analyze how policy changes in the financial sectors and pension systems help explain differences in their saving performance. Using the ARDL bounds estimation procedure, we find a fairly robust long-run relationship between private saving and its determinants in both countries. Consistent with the predictions made in the life cycle model, our results indicate that higher income growth stimulates private saving and an increase in age dependency retards private saving. The results provide some support for the hypothesis that financial liberalization results in lower private saving in both countries. The evidence also indicates that expected pension benefits tend to stimulate private saving in India, but that the reverse is found in Malaysia.private savings; pension saving; financial liberalization; India; Malaysia.