Desenvolvimento financeiro e crescimento econômico: teoria e evidência empírica para os estados brasileiros (1995-2004)
This paper aims at analyzing the relationship between economic growth and financial development on theoretical and empirical grounds. We briefly review the arguments that support the existence or not of a positive and causal relation between these two variables, as well as the arguments that outline the role and influence of financial development upon the economy. Second, an empirical exercise was undertaken using data for the 26 Brazilian states and Distrito Federal (the Brazilian District, where the capital Brasilia is located). We estimate quantile regression in order to show the impact of financial development on the dependent variable (the Gross State Product, GSP). We adopted two measures of financial development, one based in the work of King & Levine (1993) and the other in the work of Marques Jr. & Porto Jr. (2004). Empirical results suggest a positive relation between financial development and economic growth.
This study seeks to better understand the role of information technology (IT) to firms in a developing country in the catch-up process. Using the event study methodology, we empirically compare the value of IT investments to firms in China and those in the United States. Three factors that may affect the value of IT (industry, firm size, and firm type) are considered. We find that IT investment announcements significantly increase firms' market value in China but not in the US. This may be evidence that IT brings more benefits to firms in China, helping them to catch up with leader firms in the US. Furthermore, we find that the positive effects of IT investments are more easily observed in IT-using firms than in IT-producing firms in China. Our findings offer further insight into the catch-up theory and the value of IT investments.