This study presents an equilibrium model that shows a channel through which wealth inequality may affect the financial system development. In the presence frictions, namely, a limit to the proportion of debt in projects financed by banks and a minimum size of projects available in the economy, we show that inequality may negatively affect the volume of resources intermediated by the financial system and, hence, its efficiency, given the assumed gains of scale. Simulations under several parameterizations reveal a non-linear, non-monotonic relation between inequality and financial system efficiency, as measured by the spread between borrowing and lending.
