The Initial Public Offering of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Abstract

The conventional wisdom before the financial crisis that started in 2007 suggested a link between financial openness and economic growth. Papers by Bekaert, Harvey and Lundblad (2005), Bekaert, Harvey, Lundblad and Siegel (2007) and Quinn and Toyoda (2008) have shown that financial liberalization promotes economic growth. Bekaert, Harvey and Lundblad (2011) provides additional evidence that financial openness improves the growth of factor productivity. They attribute these liberalization effects to the role of financial openness in stock market and banking sector development, and to changes in the quality of institutions.