金融系統為擁有儲蓄者與需要融資的公司和廠商之間的中介，它讓雙方能完成金融交易並協助經濟活動。近幾十年來，已達成金融中介發展有助於經濟成長的共識。然而，更有爭論的是，是否人人皆能享有因金融發展而帶來的成長果實？金融發展是使所有人皆能平等地受惠，抑或是只有富者或貧者得到好處？另一方面，既然金融發展有促進成長的效果，那它是否也能減少失業率、創造就業機會？金融結構又會在這之間產生什麼樣的作用？我們想藉由本論文來探討這些議題。 在第二章中，透過40個國家自1980年至2014年的追蹤資料，我們嘗試檢驗金融發展與所得不均之間的線性和非線性關聯。我們以 Hansen (1999) 的門檻迴歸模型為基礎，將共同相關效果 (common correlated effects) 引入模型中，並採用 Pesaran (2006) 所提出的方法而得到一致性的估計式。我們的實證結果指出金融發展與所得不均之間具有顯著的非線性關係，因此樣本可以被區分為兩個群組。具體來說，在金融中介發展相對較低 (較高) 的國家，提高金融中介發展會使國家的收入分配惡化 (改善)。 第三章研究國家的金融部門發展與金融結構是否會影響以及如何影響其失業的表現。利用先進國家和發展中國家自1991年至2011年的追蹤資料，實證結果指出金融確實在失業率的決定中發揮了重要的作用，並且與信貸市場和勞動市場不完善的程度有關。具體來說，處於金融發展程度後期的國家與擁有嚴格勞動市場規範的國家，其金融發展的提升會加劇國家的失業。此外，擁有嚴謹的勞動市場規範的市場主導型國家，倘若其更加市場化，可以改善國家的失業率。 ;The financial system serves as an intermediary between the people who have savings and the firms and households who need financing to complete financial transactions and assist in economic activities. In recent decades, the consensus has been reached that financial intermediary development contributes to economic growth. However, there are intensive debates about whether everyone can enjoy the fruits of growth brought by financial development. Does financial development benefit the whole population equally, or does it disproportionately benefit the rich or the poor? Does financial sector development create or destroy jobs? Is financial architecture relevant for job creation or destruction? In this dissertation, we want to discuss these issues. In Chapter 2, we attempt to investigate the interaction between financial development and income inequality by testing the linear and nonlinear relationships in a panel data set of 40 countries over the period 1980-2014. We adopt the panel threshold regressions with fixed effects (Hansen, 1999) and common correlated effects (Pesaran, 2006) and find strong evidence of a two-regime split in our sample. The empirical results indicate that financial intermediary development deteriorates (ameliorates) the income distribution of those countries with relatively lower (higher) development. Chapter 3 empirically examines whether and how development and structure of a country’s financial sector affect its unemployment outcome. Using data on a large panel of advanced and developing countries spanning over the period 1991-2011, it finds that finance indeed plays a significant role in determining unemployment, conditional on credit and labor market imperfections. Specifically, financial development aggravates unemployment for countries at the latter stages of financial development and with heavily regulated labor markets. It is also found that a more market-oriented financial system improves unemployment for market-based countries with highly regulated labor markets.
