Despite the increasing trend toward market-based finance systems, most East Asian countries still have bank-based systems. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which bank-based financial development in East Asia has contributed to economic growth. To do this, a series of empirical analyses are conducted to gauge the effects of changes in the exogenous component of financial development on economic growth by using data on East Asian and Latin American countries for the 1960-97 period. Our empirical results show that the exogenous changes to financial development in East Asia have a strong, positive impact on growth rates. However, we find that there is weak evidence of a negative relationship between finance and growth for Latin American countries, a finding consistent with that of de Gregorio and Guidotti (1995).

I. Introduction

II. Changes in East Asia's Financial Structure

III. The Role of Finance in Economic Development in East Asia

IV. What Went Wrong in East Asian Financial System?

V. Concluding Remarks