The issue of economic growth and income inequality is always the hottest topic among economists. Over the past decades to the onset of the global economic crisis, a large majority of OECD countries have experienced widen income inequality. More recently, the break out of the Occupy Wall Street Movement has rapid spread and recaptured much attention. One of the most driving themes is a country’s economic growth and embarrassing income inequality; it also reflects a broad-based frustration about how the sophisticated financial development affects the overall economy. To understand the impact of financial development on economic growth and income distribution has more important implications than ever. This dissertation is an effort to study these issues with three studies. / In Study 1, a simplified version of Diamond and Dybvig (1983) model of liquid provision is embedded into a framework of overlapping-generations model. In the model, the agents are subject to idiosyncratic liquidity shocks, and have to make their own mind whether to hold the savings on hand or invest in a long-term illiquid technology and how to allocate. By comparing the autarky economy and the economy with financial intermediaries, our results suggest the existence of both benefits and costs of financial intermediaries and the net effects tend to differ with the development stage of the underlying economy. / In Study 2, the links between economic growth and income inequality are reexamined using a newly compiled panel dataset. This study mainly address three empirical questions: 1) Does inequality increase in the early stages of development and then decline when per capita income reaches a certain level? 2) Do countries with unequal income distribution experience slower economic growth than more egalitarian countries? 3) What might be the determinants of economic growth and income inequality, and whether they are simultaneously determined? Our results show that the links between economic growth and income inequality are quite complex and their determinants are not mutually exclusive. / In Study 3, the impacts of financial development on economic growth and income inequality are explored empirically. By collecting proxy variables measuring different aspects of financial development, this study tests 1) Is financial development pro-growth? In other words, does financial development always exert a positive impact on economic growth? 2) Is financial development pro-poor? By pro-poor, we mean whether financial development significantly improve income distribution by disproportionately boosting the incomes of the poor. Our results indicate that financial development is not always pro-growth, taking into account of country-specific effects, endogeneity and potential heteroskedasticity. In addition, after controlling for the overall growth, financial development is not pro-poor. It is more likely for the rich to get more benefits from both bank-based and market-based developments. / 經濟增長和收入不平等的問題始終是經濟學家中最熱門的話題。在過去的幾十年到近年全球經濟危機爆發，大多數經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）國家都經歷了收入不平等的擴大。近年來爆發的"佔領華爾街"運動在全球迅速蔓延，並成為關注的焦點。其中一個最為重要的導火索是國家的經濟增長和愈加惡化的收入不平等，同時也反映出廣大民眾對於金融業發展會如何影響整體經濟的困惑。因此，理解金融發展對經濟增長和收入分配的影響變得比以往任何時刻都更具有重要的意義。本論文通過三篇研究從不同的角度分析這一問題。 / 在研究一中，我們把一個簡化的Diamond 和Dybvig（1983）模型嵌入代際交疊模型的框架中。在這個模型中，每個人都會受到流動性的衝擊，因此必須決定是將儲蓄持有在手邊還是投資於長期的不能流動的技術中，以及如何分配。通過比較自給自足的經濟和有金融機構存在下的經濟，我們的研究結果表明，金融機構是把雙刃劍，其淨效應取決於相關經濟體的發展階段。 / 在研究二中，我們用新編譯的面板資料重新檢驗了經濟增長和收入不平等之間的聯繫。這篇研究主要回答了三個問題：1）收入不平等是否在經濟發展的早期增加，在人均收入達到一定水準後下降？2）收入不平等的國家是否比收入平等的國家經濟增長緩慢？3）經濟增長和收入不平等的決定因素是什麼，二者是否是同時決定的？我們的研究結果表明，經濟增長和收入不平等之間的聯繫相當複雜，並且其決定因素也不是相互排斥的。 / 在研究三中，我們通過實證的方法探索金融發展對經濟增長和收入不平等的影響。通過用不同變數來衡量金融發展的各個方面，這篇研究主要回答了兩個問題：1）金融發展是否促增長？換句話說，金融發展對經濟增長是否都產生了積極的影響？2）金融發展是否有利於窮人？所謂有利於窮人，我們是指金融發展能大幅提高窮人的收入，從而顯著改善收入分配。我們的研究結果顯示，在考慮了國家影響、內生性和潛在異方差等因素後，金融發展並不總是有利於經濟增長。另外，剔除整體經濟增長的影響，金融發展也並不利於窮人。相反，富人更有可能從銀行和市場為主的金融發展中得到更多的實惠。 / Yu, Yao. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-207). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 20, December, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.