Does structural matching between finance and the real economy promote economic growth?

Recent analysis of how finance serves the real economy have mainly focused on the quantity. We discuss this issue from the perspective of structural matching between finance and the real economy. We first use assortative matching model to analyze the relationship between financial structure and technological structure, then construct the structural matching indicator, finally empirical test the impact of structural matching on economic growth. The empirical results show that the matching indicator between financial structure and technological structure has a significantly positive effect on economic growth, and this impact is more significantly in developed countries. The channels through which structural matching exerts its influence on economic growth include capital accumulation and productivity growth. Our empirical findings withstand a series of robustness tests.