Weighing up the costs and benefits of economic interdependence in a finance-driven world, this book argues that globalization, understood and promoted as absolute freedom for all forms of capital, has been oversold to the Global South, and that the South should be as selective about globalization as the North. ‘Liberalization, Financial Instability and Economic Development’ challenges the orthodoxy on the link between financial deepening and economic growth, as well as that between the efficiency of financial markets and the benefits of liberalization. Ultimately, the author urges developing countries to control capital flows and asset bubbles, preventing financial fragility and crises, and recommends regional policy options for managing capital flows and exchange rates.

Since the early 1980s, Korea’s financial development has been a tale of liberalization and opening. After the 1997 financial crisis, great strides were made in building a market-oriented financial system through sweeping reforms for deregulation and the opening of financial markets. However, the new system failed to steer the country away from a credit card boom and bust in 2003, a liquidity crisis in 2008, and a run on its savings banks in 2011, and has been severely tested again by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Financial liberalization, clearly, has been no panacea. This study analyzes the deepening of and structural changes in Korea’s financial system since the early 1980s and presents the empirical results of the effects of financial development on economic growth, stability, and the distribution of income. It finds that, contrary to conventional wisdom, financial liberalization has contributed little to fostering the growth and stability of the Korean economy and has exacerbated income distribution problems. Are there any merits in financial liberalization? The authors answer this query through empirical examinations of the theories of finance and growth. They point to a clear need to further improve the efficiency, soundness, and stability of Korean financial institutions and markets.

This work examines the effects of financial liberalization of the more advanced economies in Southeast Asia and analyses the degree to which emerging and transitional economies in East and South Asia can benefit from this example.

Jan A. Kregel is considered to be “the best all-round general economist alive” (G. C. Harcourt). This is the first collection of his essays dealing with a wide range of topics reflecting the incredible depth and breadth of Kregel’s work. These essays focus on the role of finance in development and growth. Kregel has expanded Minsky’s original postulate that in capitalist economies stability engenders instability in international economy, and this volume collect’s Kregel’s key works devoted to financial instability, its causes and effects. The volume also contains Kregel’s most recent discussions of the Great Recession beginning in 2008.

This book is the thirteenth volume in the International Papers in Political Economy (IPPE) series which explores the latest developments in political economy. A collection of eight papers, the book concentrates on the deregulation of domestic financial markets and discusses financial liberalisation in terms of its past performance, current progress and future developments. The chapters have been written by expert contributors in the field and focus on topics such as past records of financial liberalisation, future policies of regulation, and current account imbalances. Other papers examine capital account regulations in developing and emerging countries, and capital controls in the Eurozone after the 2007 financial crisis. This collection of papers invites readers to consider the impact of financial liberalisation both during and after the global economic crisis. Scholars and students with an interest in political economy, financialisation, and economic performance will find this collection stimulating and informative.

This book analyzes how financial liberalization affected the development of the financial crisis in Europe, with particular attention given to the ways in which power asymmetries within Western Europe facilitated financial liberalization and distributed the costs and gains from it. The author combines institutional narrative analysis with empirical surveys and econometrics, as well as country-level studies of financial liberalization and its consequences before and after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis.

The recent global ?nancial crisis has made ?nancial liberalization a topic of great academic and practical interest. This book makes new contributions to the topic by combining fact-?nding, empirical analysis, and theory to examine the relationship between ?nancial liberalization and economic growth. Among its contributions, the book provides detailed country assessments on the effects of ?nancial liberalization, including its striking impact on the banking sector. Although an important goal of ?nancial deregulation has been to help ?nancial institutions better perform their role in intermediating resources, the book models how deregulation may fail to achieve that goal in countries with underdeveloped ?nancial markets and institutions. For that purpose, the book draws on actual experience in Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, and Thailand. This book should constitute important reading for students of ?nancial economics, researchers and general academics, ?nancial practitioners, policymakers, and teachers of economics. North Carolina, USA Steven L. Schwarcz December 2008 Stanley A. Star Professor of Law & Business, Duke University Founding Director, Duke Global Capital Markets Center Durham vii Abstract and Preface The latest global ?nancial and economic crisis of 2008 shows the need to - examine the desirability of ?nancial liberalization and the basis for the view that ?nancial deregulation by itself cannot be considered as a substitute for better economic management. The literature on ?nancial liberalization has identi?ed various mechanisms through which removing controls on interest rates may impact economic growth.