The interest group theory of banking sector expansion in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

Guanchun Liu, Chengsi Zhang and Yueteng Zhu

Journal of International Money and Finance, 2020, vol. 107, issue C

Abstract: This study investigates whether the state-owned enterprise group inhibits banking sector expansion, thus impeding competition in China, as depicted in the interest group theory. To address potential endogeneity, our identification scheme employs a Chinese bank-deregulation policy for joint-equity and city commercial banks implemented in 2009. We collect Chinese bank branch data manually and use the difference-in-difference estimation method to explore two-dimension variations in the interest group theory: state-owned shareholding and year. The results show that higher state-owned shareholdings lead to fewer commercial bank entries, especially in regions with more intensive industry and bank competition. A further counterfactual analysis indicates that a 24% loss of the observed increase in the number of small- and medium-sized banks from 2009 to 2013 is attributed to impediments of state-owned capital. These findings suggest that mitigating the influence of state-owned enterprises is likely to simultaneously promote financial development and capital allocation efficiency.

Keywords: Banking sector expansion; State-owned enterprises reform; Interest group theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G28 O16 P21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261560620301819
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:107:y:2020:i:c:s0261560620301819

DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2020.102225

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Money and Finance is currently edited by J. R. Lothian

More articles in Journal of International Money and Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().