Do Stock Markets Complement Banks in Promoting Economic Growth? Evidence from West African Countries
Do Stock Markets Complement Banks in Promoting Economic Growth? Evidence from West African Countries

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the impact of stock markets on economic growth in Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria using three proxies to determine whether the impact of stock markets on economic growth is sensitive to the proxy used to measure stock market development. It also seeks to determine whether the impact of stock markets on economic growth is sensitive to the inclusion of banking development indicator in the regression. After accounting for structural breaks and cross- sectional dependency, the study reveals that stock markets have positive impact on economic growth in all the countries, albeit the impact is not very robust in Ghana. The results are neither sensitive to the proxy used to measure stock market development nor the inclusion of banking development indicator in the regression. This implies that stock market is a complement rather than a substitute for banking development in the process of economic development in West African countries. Thus, the countries should strengthen policies that promote all aspects of stock market development in order to accelerate sustainable economic development.

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