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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 115 No. 1 2015

Does banking competition affect innovation?

Jess Cornaggia1; Yifei Mao2; Xuan Tian2,3; Brian Wolfe4

1 Georgetown University · 2 Indiana University · 3 Tsinghua University · 4 University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Abstract

We exploit the deregulation of interstate bank branching laws to test whether banking competition affects innovation. We find robust evidence that banking competition reduces state-level innovation by public corporations headquartered within deregulating states. Innovation increases among private firms that are dependent on external finance and that have limited access to credit from local banks. We argue that banking competition enables small, innovative firms to secure financing instead of being acquired by public corporations. Therefore, banking competition reduces the supply of innovative targets, which reduces the portion of state-level innovation attributable to public corporations. Overall, these results shed light on the real effects of banking competition and the determinants of innovation.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.09.001
Volume
115
Issue
1
Pages
189-209
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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