What Makes Banks Special? A Study of Banking, Finance, and Economic Development

Bossone, Biagio

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ADVERSE SELECTION;    ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES;    ASYMMETRIC INFORMATION;    AUDITING;    BANK ACCOUNTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2408
RP-ID  :  WPS2408

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Over the past decades, finance theoryhas contributed significantly to understanding banks andidentifying what qualifies them to be special financialintermediaries. Historically, banks have had a comparativeadvantage in certain functions - such as providing liquidityand payment services and supplying credit and information -which competition, technological change, and institutionaldevelopment have increasingly eroded. And the spread ofe-money could deal a blow to conventional banking,generating entirely new ways of doing finance. Afterintegrating his examination of money, production, andinvestment, the author argues that banks remain special inthat they lend claims on their own debt and the publicaccepts the debt claims as money. His study shows the banksand nonbank financial intermediaries perform complementaryfunctions essential to the economy. Risk reduction policiesin payment systems, banking asset allocation, and thedeposit market affect the economy's tradeoff betweenrisk and efficiency and the cost of generating resources tofinance production. As possibilities for globalcommunications expand, trust will matter more than ever, andbanks and other financial intermediaries will be in a goodposition to bridge gaps in trust when it comes to creatingmoney and intermediating funds.