This paper provides evidence on the relationship between finance and high growth in China. Employing data for 27 Chinese provinces over the period 1995-2003, we assess the impact of banks and non-bank financial institutions on local economic growth. We argue that banks have had a larger impact...

We provide the first evidence on how the introduction of information sharing via a public credit registry affects banks' lending decisions. We employ a unique dataset containing detailed information on credit card applications and decisions from one of the leading banks in China. While we do not...

The recent financial crisis has reopened the debate on the impact of informal and formal finance on firm growth in developing countries. Using unique survey data, we find that informal finance is associated with higher sales growth for small firms and lower sales growth for large firms. We...