"An important literature on comparative long-run economic growth focuses on financial development. This work in economic history strongly complements the extensive empirical research by King and Levine (1993) and many others who have established a strong connection between financial development...

Throughout much of the twentieth century, economists paid little heed to the role of financial intermediaries in procuring a beneficial allocation of capital. But by the end of the century some financial historians had begun to turn the tide, and the phrase 'finance-growth nexus' became part of...