Epidemic disease and financial development

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: An, Jiafu; Hou, Wenxuan; Lin, Chen
• 署名单位: University of Aberdeen; University of Portsmouth; Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting & Finance; University of Edinburgh; University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2021.06.003
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 332-358
• 关键词: disease; External financing; financial development; trust; technology adoption

摘要

We study the impact of an epidemic disease on modern financial development by exploiting geographic variations in the precolonial survival conditions of the TseTse fly, which transmits an epidemic disease that is harmful to humans and fatal to livestock in Africa. Using newly georeferenced data, we discover that firms and households in regions historically more exposed to the epidemic disease have less access to external financing today. Exploring the channels, we find that people in historically infested regions are less likely to trust others and financial institutions, to share credit information and to learn and adopt new financial technologies. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.