金融业竞争力：竞争力政策概述外文翻译.doc

外文翻译 Competition in the Financial Sector: Overview of Competition Policies Material Source:March 2009 International Monetary Fund Author: Stijn Claessens Competition in the financial sector matters for a number of reasons. As in other industries, the degree of competition in the financial sector matters for the efficiency of production of financial services, the quality of financial products and the degree of innovation in the sector. The view that competition in financial services is unambiguously good, however, is more naive than in other industries and vigorous rivalry may not be the first best. Specific to the financial sector is the effect of excessive competition on financial stability, long recognized in theoretical and empirical research and, most importantly, in the actual conduct of (prudential) policy towards banks. There are other complications, however, as well. It has been shown, theoretically and empirically, that the degree of competition in the financial sector can matter (negatively or positively) for the access of firms and households to financial services, in turn affecting overall economic growth. In terms of the factors driving competition in the financial sector and the empirical measurement of competition, one needs to consider the standard industrial organization factors, such as entry/exit and contestability. But financial services provision also has many network properties, in their production (e.g., use of information networks), distribution (e.g., use of ATMs), and in their consumption (e.g., the large externalities of stock exchanges and the agglomeration effects in liquidity). This makes for complex competition structures since aspects such as the availability of networks used or the first mover advantage in introducing financial contracts become important. Not only are many of the relationships and tradeoffs among competition, financial system performance, access to financing, stability, and finally growt