A Survey Of Financial Liberalization

The focus of this study is to identify similarities and differences of monetary policy in Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico following diverging financial liberalization strategies. The evolution of monetary transmission channels, targets and instruments is examined in connection with the timing and sequencing of financial reforms. Money demand functions are analyzed with respect to stability, causality, and structural breaks. It is shown that the gradual (Asian) liberalization strategy affected monetary policy in a different way than the big-bang (Latin American) approach. Constraints on monetary management are imposed by complex monetary transmission channels changing in view of financial sector crises, alterations in exchange rate regimes, and the increasing globalization of financial markets.

The financial liberalization thesis emerged in the 1970s and has been of considerable importance ever since, not merely in terms of its theoretical influence but, perhaps more importantly, in terms of its impact on policy makers and policy debates. Although it has encountered increasing scepticism over the years, it nevertheless had a relatively early impact on development policy, which still continues unabated, through the work of the IMF and the World Bank. The latter two institutions, perhaps in their traditional role as promoters of what were claimed to be free market conditions, were keen to encourage financial liberalization policies as part of more general reforms or stabilization programmes. This book explores what we have learned from the vast experience of the theoretical and policy aspects of the financial liberalization.

In this study, the author hopes to add to the literature concerning the distributional consequences of financial integration by focusing on the rise of non-state actors within a transformed international system. In it, he argues that structural change brought on by transnational production and post-industrialization has created space for non-state actors to acquire autonomy from sovereign entities. While finance is by no means the only specialized sector to achieve autonomy, it has perhaps the most immediate impact on the ability of governments to pursue policy. First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

A study of 53 countries during 1980-95 finds that financial liberalization increases the probability of a banking crisis, but less so where the institutional environment is strong. In particular, respect for the rule of law, a low level of corruption, and good contract enforcement are relevant institutional characteristics. the data also show that, after liberalization, financially repressed countries tend to have improved financial development even if they experience a banking crisis. This is not true for financially restrained countries. This paper’s results support a cautious approach to financial liberalization where institutions are weak, even if macroeconomic stabilization has been achieved.

In this new book a group of 18 distinguished authors presents comprehensive surveys of current issues in the field of finance and development. . . This book nicely bridges the gap between general research on the role of finance for economic growth and the role finance plays for developing economies and poverty reduction. . . Moreover, the authors identify a great number of promising ideas for future research. . . Ryszard Kokoszczynski, SUERF Newsletter The European Money & Finance Forum In the last two decades, the role of finance in the development process has become a major topic of research and debate. Although it is widely agreed that there is an important link between the two, there is much less consensus on the exact nature of the relationship. Is financial development a prerequisite for general economic development, or is it a more passive by-product of the development process? In this valuable new book, a distinguished group of authors takes stock of the existing state of knowledge in the field of finance and the development process. Each chapter offers a comprehensive survey and synthesis of current issues. These include such critical subjects as savings, financial markets and the macroeconomy, stock market development, financial regulation, foreign investment and aid, financing livelihoods, microfinance, rural financial markets, small and medium enterprises, corporate finance and banking. This book will be accessible to postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students of finance and development. It will also be an essential reference source for all professionals and academics working in this area who want to learn how finance can contribute to the development process and poverty reduction.

Geared towards policy makers, researchers, academics, and business and management professionals, The Gains and Pains of Financial Integration and Trade Liberalization helps readers develop new theories and models for analysing the future trends in finance and trade-related issues.

This paper undertakes a survey of theoretical considerations and an analysis of the experience of five African countries with interest rate liberalization. Despite substantial progress in monetary policy reforms, liberalization has only partially affected the level and variability of interest rates. Several factors—macroeconomic instability, oligopolistic financial markets, the absence of developed capital markets, as well as the sequencing of the liberalization programs and the asymmetric availability of information—explain the increase in the spread between lending and deposit rates as well as the rather inflexible pattern of interest rates during the transition to a market-based financial system.