Contribution of Cooperative Banks to the Regional Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from France

Abstract

In this paper, we propose to study the contribution of the French cooperative banks in regional economic growth. This study is based on dynamic panel data estimation regarding that the data used are generated from 88 regional cooperative banks in France practicing in 26 different regions for the period 2006-2012. The empirical results by the system GMM method allow us to confirm that cooperative banks is positively associated with economic growth after controlling for various determinants. In fact, the development of cooperative banks by improving their financial situation can promote regional economic development.Keywords: Cooperative banks, regional economic growth, dynamic panel model, system GMMJEL Classifications: C23; F63; G21; 016; R11