Based on a sample of 87 countries, this paper shows that non-financial institutions, specifically rule of law, do matter for the relative merits of bank-based and market-based financial systems. Market-based systems work better in low rule of law countries, while bank-based systems are more efficient in high-rule of law countries. These results are consistent with the premise that market-based systems’ superiority in solving the incomplete information problem dominates over bank-based systems’ superiority in solving the moral hazard and contract enforcement problems, which are expected to be more prevalent in low rule of law countries. | Economic performance in bank-based and market-based financial systems: Do non-financial institutions matter
