Thursday 27 October 2016

Passing the buck

IN 2007 financial dangers, piled up like so much tinder, ignited at last and caused a swathe of destruction across the global economy. The blaze also engulfed governments, which faced intense public pressure to prevent such calamities from recurring. Much has happened on the regulatory front since then. Few believe, however, that the problem of financial instability has been solved. To regulators’ frustration, in a world of global financial flows, efforts to safeguard one country often endanger others.

This bothersome tendency has become harder to ignore as cross-border capital flows have swollen. Annual gross financial flows in rich countries soared from roughly 5% of GDP in 1980 to around 25% of GDP on the eve of the financial crisis. This worldwide torrent of money has its benefits. Investors can more easily diversify their portfolios. Investors in slow-growing rich countries gain access to higher-yielding investments in poorer, capital-starved economies, and those poorer economies gain access to desperately needed capital relatively cheaply.

Yet there are costs as well. Emerging economies with less sophisticated financial markets and...Continue reading

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