讨论稿No. E2013003:Financial Structure, Corporate Savings and Current Account Imbalances

发布日期:2013-06-06 02:30    来源:北京大学国家发展研究院

Financial Structure, Corporate Savings and Current Account Imbalances

 

Zhibo Tan,† Shang-Jin Wei,‡ Yang Yao,† and Yue Zhao†

 

No. E2013003    June6, 2013

 

Abstract We explore the effects of a country’s financial structure on its corporate savings and current accounts. A financial system that relies relatively more on banks and less on the capital market presents more difficulties for small and medium-sized enterprises to access external finance. These firms find it necessary to accumulate more savings on their own. As a result, countries that rely on a less developed capital market are more likely to run current account surpluses (or smaller current account deficits). Using panel data of 66 countries for the period 1990-2007, we find consistent and robust evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Further explorations based on firm-level data reveal that firms, especially smaller firms, in economies with relatively under-developed capital markets do save significantly more than their counterparts in countries with relatively more developed capital markets.

Keywords Current account imbalances; Corporate savings; Financial structure; Firm heterogeneities

JEL classification F32; G15; G32

No. E2013003

 

† China Center for Economic Research, National School of Development, Peking University. Contact method: tzb0905@pku.edu.cn.

‡ Graduate School of Business, Columbia University and NBER.