How does institutional development shape bank risk-taking incentives in the context of financial openness?

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of institutional development on the relationship between financial openness and bank risk-taking behavior. In particular, we investigate how institutional improvement can change the impact of financial openness on bank stability. Using a panel of 37 emerging markets and 21 advanced economies over the period 2000–2015, the results show that opening the financial market affects bank risk-taking behaviors differently, depending on the degree of institutional development. Empirical evidence also supports the competition-fragility view in the case of developing countries, while it favors the competition-stability hypothesis in developed economies.