The great reversals: the politics of financial development in the twentieth century

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Rajan, RG; Zingales, L
• 署名单位: University of Chicago
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-405X(03)00125-9
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 5-50
• 关键词: Financial Markets; GROWTH; POLITICS; financial development; reversals; TRADE; capital flows

摘要

The state of development of the financial sector does not change monotonically over time. In particular, by most measures, countries were more financially developed in 1913 than in 1980 and only recently have they surpassed their 1913 levels. To explain these changes, we propose an interest group theory of financial development where incumbents oppose financial development because it breeds competition. The theory predicts that incumbents' opposition will be weaker when an economy allows both cross-border trade and capital flows. This theory can go some way in accounting for the cross-country differences in, and the time-series variation of, financial development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.