The Impact of Financial Development on Innovation Activities in Emerging and Developing Countries

Abstract

We investigate in this paper the effect of financial development on innovation in emerging and developing countries. The estimation of panel threshold model for a sample 54 countries during the period 1980-2009 shows the presence of non linear effects in the relationship between financial development and innovation. We find a threshold value of economic development below which the financial development level has no significant impact on innovation and above which financial development has a significant positive impact on innovation. In sum, our findings suggest that the presence of a healthy economic environment is crucial for financial institutions to offer high-quality financial services, promoting more innovation.