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Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 140 No. 2 2021

Why is stock market concentration bad for the economy?

Kee‐Hong Bae1; Warren Bailey2,3,4; Jisok Kang5

1 York University · 2 Fudan University · 3 Cornell University · 4 Institute of Economics · 5 John Carroll University

Abstract

The stock market should fund promising new firms, thereby breeding competition, innovation, and economic growth. However, using three decades of data from 47 countries, we show that concentrated stock markets dominated by a small number of very successful firms are associated with less efficient capital allocation, sluggish initial public offering and innovation activity, and slower economic growth. These findings are robust to alternative sample periods, econometric specifications, and competing explanatory variables. Our evidence is consistent with the paradox that the capital market of a competitive economy can impede the continuing competitiveness of that economy.

DOI
10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.01.002
Volume
140
Issue
2
Pages
436-459
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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