Citation

Discussion Paper Details

Please find the details for DP9621 in an easy to copy and paste format below:

Full Details

Title: The Political Economy of Financial Systems: Evidence from Suffrage Reforms in the Last Two Centuries

Author(s): Hans Degryse, Thomas Lambert and Armin Schwienbacher

Publication Date: September 2013

Keyword(s): banking sector, financial development, financial structure, political economy, stock markets and voting franchise

Programme Area(s): Financial Economics

Abstract: Initially, voting rights were limited to wealthy elites providing political support for stock markets. The franchise expansion induces the median voter to provide political support for banking development as this new electorate has lower financial holdings and benefits less from the uncertainty and financial returns from stock markets. Our panel data evidence covering 1830-1999 shows that tighter restrictions on the voting franchise induce a greater stock market development, whereas a broader voting franchise is more conducive towards the banking sector, consistent with Perotti and von Thadden (2006). Our results are robust to controlling for other political determinants and endogeneity.

For full details and related downloads, please visit: https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9621

Bibliographic Reference

Degryse, H, Lambert, T and Schwienbacher, A. 2013. 'The Political Economy of Financial Systems: Evidence from Suffrage Reforms in the Last Two Centuries'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=9621