Abstract:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between financial consumer protection (FCP) and
economic growth.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors use cross-country data on 114 countries surveyed in the
World Bank Global Survey on FCP and Financial Literacy (2013) and endogenous treatment regressions for
the estimation.
Findings – The results indicate that FCP enhances economic growth through fair treatment, responsible
lending, enforcement and dispute resolution and recourse regulations. The authors find no evidence to
suggest that disclosure and compliance monitoring regulations have an effect on economic growth.
Practical implications – This study provides rich insight into the important question faced by policy
makers, as to which FCP regulatory mechanisms to put in place to enhance economic growth.
Originality/value – This study provides current, cross-country empirical evidence on the debate as to
whether FCP enhances economic growth
