In some contrast to the undisputed relation between financial and overall economic growth,
the issue of causality created long-standing controversy. At present, it seems fair to conclude
that the basic thrust is from financial development to economic growth and less so the other
way round (see Fase & Abma, 2003, for Asian countries). There are some caveats although,
because there is still lots of reverse and two-way causality as first shown by Demetriades and
Hussein (1996). Moreover, the experience of countries (De Gregorio & Guidotti, 1995) and
episodes (Graff & Karmann, 2006) demonstrates that financial growth can be even harmful or
at least useless for overall development. So, policy makers are well advised to put the right
dose of reform to the economy and neither being too cautious – thus giving growth
opportunities away – nor being too ambitious – thus wasting resources and possibly risking crises.