Political institutions and financial development / edited by Stephen Haber, Douglass C. North, and Barry R. Weingast.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Haber, Stephen H., 1957-

North, Douglass C. (Douglass Cecil)

Weingast, Barry R.

Series:

Social science history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Finance--Political aspects.

Finance.

Finance--Government policy.

Monetary policy.

Physical Description:

ix, 304 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 2008.

Summary:

Economists have long maintained that a well-developed and functioning financial system is a vital prerequistie to economic growth. Countries with robust banking sectors and securities markets-that is, countries in which credit cards, loans, mortgages, and the ability to issue stocks and bonds are available to a broad swath of consumers and businesses-are more prosperous than countries that restrict such access to a favored elite. What is less clear is why some countries develop better financial systems than others. The essays in this volume employ the insights and techniques of political science, economics, and history to provide a fresh answer to this question. While scholarly tradition points to the colonial origin of a country's legal system as the most important determinant of the health of its financial system, this volume points instead to a country's political institutions-its governmental structures and the rules of the political game-as the key. Specifically, the openness and competitiveness of a country's political system tends to reflect itself in the openness and competitiveness of its financial system.

Contents:

1 Political Institutions and Financial Development / Stephen Haber, Douglass C. North, Barry R. Weingast 1

2 Political Institutions and Financial Development: Evidence from the Political Economy of Bank Regulation in Mexico and the United States / Stephen Haber 10

3 The Political Economy of Early U.S. Financial Development / Richard Sylla 60

4 Answering Mary Shirley's Question, or: What Can the World Bank Learn from American History? / John Joseph Wallis 92

5 Beyond Legal Origin and Checks and Balances: Political Credibility, Citizen Information, and Financial Sector Development / Philip Keefer 125

6 The Microeconomic Effects of Different Approaches to Bank Supervision / James R. Barth, Gerard Caprio, Ross Levine 156

7 Political Drivers of Diverging Corporate Governance Patterns / Peter Gourevitch, James Shinn 189

8 Credible Commitment and Sovereign Default Risk: Two Bond Markets and Imperial Brazil / William R. Summerhill 226

9 Legal Origin vs. the Politics of Creditor Rights: Bond Markets in Brazil, 1850-2002 / Aldo Musacchio 259

10 Conclusion: Economics, Political Institutions, and Financial Markets / Douglass C. North, Mary M. Shirley 287.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804756921

0804756929

9780804756938

0804756937

OCLC:

156891963