We examine policy thresholds of information sharing for financial development in 53 African countries for the period 2004-2011. Public credit registries (PCR) and private credit bureaus (PCB) are used as proxies for reducing information asymmetry whereas financial development includes all financial dimensions identified by the Financial Development and Structure Database (FDSD) of the World Bank, namely: depth, efficiency, activity and size. The empirical evidence is based on interactive Generalised Methods of Moments with forward orthogonal deviations. The following findings are established. First, PCR and PCB have negative effects on financial depth, with the magnitude of the former higher. Second, contrary to PCR which have insignificant effects, PCB has a negative impact on banking system efficiency. Third, PCR and PCB have negative impacts on financial activity, with the magnitude of the latter higher. Moreover, their marginal effects are negative. Fourth, PCR and PCB have positive effects on financial size, with the effect of the former higher. While marginal effects are positive, corresponding thresholds are not within range. Policy implications are discussed.

中文翻译：

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非洲的信息不对称和金融发展动态

我们研究了2004-2011年期间53个非洲国家信息共享以促进金融发展的政策门槛。公共信用注册中心（PCR）和私人信用局（PCB）被用作减少信息不对称的代理，而金融发展包括世界银行金融发展和结构数据库（FDSD）确定的所有金融维度，即：深度，效率，活动和规模。经验证据是基于具有向前正交偏差的交互式广义矩量法。建立了以下发现。首先，PCR和PCB对财务深度有负面影响，前者的影响更大。其次，与PCR无关紧要的是，PCB对银行系统的效率有负面影响。第三，PCR和PCB对金融活动产生负面影响，后者的规模更高。而且，它们的边际效应是负面的。第四，PCR和PCB对财务规模有积极影响，前者的影响更大。尽管边际效应为正，但相应的阈值不在范围内。讨论了政策含义。