Essays on banking efficiency, access to finance and firm performance in China

This thesis aims to contribute to the under-researched area of China's financial system and its role of fostering firm growth. This is achieved by investigating three aspects of the efficiency of the Chinese financial system. The first aspect focuses on the suppliers of financial resources (i.e. banks) and examines the cost efficiency and productivity growth of the Chinese banking industry. The second aspect considers the recipients of finance---manufacturing firms, and investigates how source of finance in firm's capital structure affects its growth performance. The third aspect concentrates on a particular growth channel (exporting) and investigates the interaction between access to domestic finance, foreign direct investment, and the exports of private enterprises. Overall, I find that the Chinese banks lack cost efficiency, the allocation of financial resources through state-owned financial institutions is inefficient, and there is a positive association between access to finance and export market orientation.