Non-linear nexus between economic policy uncertainty and bank lending

Mohsin Shabir, Ping Jiang, Shujahat Haider Hashmi and Satar Bakhsh

International Review of Economics & Finance, 2022, vol. 79, issue C, 657-679

Abstract: Our study examines the non-linear effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on bank lending, using bank-level panel data of 19 countries for the period 2006–2018. We find that EPU reduces bank lending, but this effect varies across banks and market structure and is significantly higher during the financial crisis. Specifically, there is a significant threshold effect of bank competition on EPU and bank lending nexus. Countries with lower competitive environment increase the adverse impact of policy uncertainty. Additional robustness tests exhibit that institutional quality increases bank lending and mitigates negative economic policy uncertainty, while strict bank regulations increase this negative impact. Moreover, the adverse impact of EPU on bank lending is significant in a subgroup of developed countries. Our empirical work has specific policy implications for banks, regulatory bodies, and government agencies for decision-making.

Keywords: Economic policy uncertainty; Bank competition; Bank lending; Panel threshold model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F68 G01 G21 G28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056022000363
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:reveco:v:79:y:2022:i:c:p:657-679

DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2022.02.016

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Economics & Finance is currently edited by H. Beladi and C. Chen

More articles in International Review of Economics & Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().