The evolution of the financial contract in economic development

This paper presents an analysis of the joint determination of real and financial development. The analysis is based on a simple endogenous growth model in which a borrower's risk type is private information. Our innovation is to determine jointly the equilibrium loan contract and the economy's growth path. We show that at a low level of development an economy is likely to experience a large incidence of credit rationing. As capital accumulates, credit rationing may fall as a result of the emergence of a new contract regime in which agents mitigate information friction by making use of available information. This change in behaviour results in a higher capital accumulation path and a higher steady-state capital stock.