جهانی شدن و توسعه مالی

This paper argues that globalization is a key factor in stimulating institutional reforms in developing countries that promote financial development and economic growth. Advanced countries can help in this process by supporting the opening of their markets to goods and services from emerging-market countries. By encouraging these countries to increase their participation in global markets, advanced countries can create exactly the right incentives for developing countries to implement the reforms that will enable them to have high economic growth.

Our parents drill into us that the key to success is hard work. Yet when we look at many developing countries, we see people who work extremely hard for long hours. Their wages are low, and so they remain poor. And as a whole, their countries remain poor. If hard work does not make a country rich, what does? The right institutions are essential. Nobel laureate Douglass North defines institutions as the “rules of the game in a society, or, more formally, humanly devised constraints that shape human intervention.” (North, 1990, p. 3). Among the institutions that are most crucial to economic growth are those that enable a country to allocate capital to its most productive uses. Such institutions establish and maintain strong property rights, an effective legal system, and a sound and efficient financial system. In recent years, the field of economic development has moved toward the conclusion that “institutions rule” and are critical to economic growth.1 An extensive literature focuses on financial development as a significant force driving economic development.2 However, developing good institutions that foster financial development is not easy: It takes time for institutions to evolve and adapt to local circumstances. In addition, vested interests in poor countries often oppose the necessary reforms because they believe that such reforms will weaken their power or allow other people to cut into their profits. How can poorer countries overcome these obstacles? How can they change the distribution of power to forge the political will to promote institutional reform? My reading of the literature suggests that a key part of the answer is globalization.

How can advanced countries help? Supporting the opening of markets to goods and services from emerging-market countries encourages developing countries to increase their participation in global markets, thereby creating exactly the right incentives for them to implement the hard measures that will enable them to grow rapidly. As we have seen, exporters have strong incentives to be productive so that they can take advantage of access to our markets, and thus they will make the investments needed for growth. They also will push for the institutional reforms to make financial markets more efficient and promote financial deepening. By getting financial markets to work well, exporters will have access to the capital they need to increase their business.