Financial development, institutional investors, and economic growth

Abstract

This study analyzes the nonlinear relationship between financial development under the presence of institutional investors (assets in insurance companies, mutual funds, and pension funds, as a percentage of GDP) and economic growth. The analysis considers data on 116 economies obtained from the World Bank for the period 1991–2014. We examine both industrialized and developing economies using a dynamic panel threshold technique. We find that countries below the finance threshold grow less and those above the threshold grow faster. In addition, in the industrialized economies, institutional investors have a positive effect on the growth of GDP per capita.