Beyond Banks: An Introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides a historiographical review of the literatures on banks and economic growth, non-bank credit markets in Western economies, and non-bank credit markets in non-Western economies. It argues that moving beyond established terminologies such as (in)formal and alternative makes it possible to focus on how credit markets actually functioned. It proposes that the study of bank and non-bank credit markets should be guided by how the demand for and supply of loanable funds meet, whose funds change hands, what form loans are recorded in, and what mechanisms secure and enforce repayment. Lastly, the contributions to this edited volume are introduced.