Stock Market Development and Financial Intermediaries: Stylized Facts

Abstract

World stock markets are booming, and emerging stock markets account for a disproportionate share of this growth. Yet economists lack a common concept or measure of stock market development. This article collects and compares a broad array of indicators of stock market and financial intermediary development, using data from forty-four developing and industrial countries during the period from 1986 to 1993. The empirical results exhibit wide cross-country differences for each indicator as well as intuitively appealing correlations between various indicators. The article constructs aggregate indexes and analyzes them to document the relationship between the emergence of stock markets and the growth of financial intermediaries. It produces a set of stylized facts that facilitates and stimulates research into the links among stock markets, economic development, and corporate financing decisions.