The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.

This paper is a first attempt to garner the theory and evidence on the political economy of the first wave of financial liberalisation during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and of its demise after World War I. Not everyone gained from the process of globalisation (of trade, labour, and...

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Main Author: Esteves, R
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: Nuffield College (University of Oxford) 2011
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author Esteves, R
author_facet Esteves, R
author_sort Esteves, R
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description This paper is a first attempt to garner the theory and evidence on the political economy of the first wave of financial liberalisation during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and of its demise after World War I. Not everyone gained from the process of globalisation (of trade, labour, and finance), which brought about important changes in the structure of the economy and the distribution of income in nations across the world. This paper explores how the economic incentives generated by these dislocations translated, through the political system, into choices about openness to foreign capital and financial integration. The period before World War I is remarkable by the almost absence of restrictions on cross-border capital flows, which may explain the little attention it has received in the historical literature, compared to the extensive study of trade protectionism in this period. After the War, many countries experimented with capital controls which varied in nature and intensity and were intensified during the Depression. Despite the attempt made here to reconcile these stylized facts to models of political economy, the analysis requires a better empirical foundation and some suggestions for further research are also proposed.
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spelling oxford-uuid:1ae7a231-15c9-455a-abbf-c7f7a3f2b8b22022-03-26T10:57:25ZThe Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.Working paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:1ae7a231-15c9-455a-abbf-c7f7a3f2b8b2EnglishDepartment of Economics - ePrintsNuffield College (University of Oxford)2011Esteves, RThis paper is a first attempt to garner the theory and evidence on the political economy of the first wave of financial liberalisation during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, and of its demise after World War I. Not everyone gained from the process of globalisation (of trade, labour, and finance), which brought about important changes in the structure of the economy and the distribution of income in nations across the world. This paper explores how the economic incentives generated by these dislocations translated, through the political system, into choices about openness to foreign capital and financial integration. The period before World War I is remarkable by the almost absence of restrictions on cross-border capital flows, which may explain the little attention it has received in the historical literature, compared to the extensive study of trade protectionism in this period. After the War, many countries experimented with capital controls which varied in nature and intensity and were intensified during the Depression. Despite the attempt made here to reconcile these stylized facts to models of political economy, the analysis requires a better empirical foundation and some suggestions for further research are also proposed.
spellingShingle Esteves, R
The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title_full The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title_fullStr The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title_full_unstemmed The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title_short The Political Economy of Global Financial Liberalization in Historical Perspective.
title_sort political economy of global financial liberalization in historical perspective
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AT estevesr politicaleconomyofglobalfinancialliberalizationinhistoricalperspective