Liberalism, Republicanism, and Finance

Author(s):  
Christopher W. Calvo

This chapter surveys the historiography on Jacksonian finance, emphasizing the literary association between finance and capitalism. Much of the chapter addresses early American opposition to financial institutions, but this chapter also discusses the advocates of finance who sponsored government intervention in state and national financial markets. This chapter argues for the reorganization of the conventional dialectic between finance and capitalism, highlighting critical nuances in the literature. Besides Alexander Hamilton, few Americans accepted finance as a desirable or necessary feature of capitalism. Most Americans believed that financial institutions were anathema to market economies, or they imagined that market competition could be employed to slow or prevent entirely the spread of finance. The chapter also connects the antebellum opposition to classical republicanism traced to England’s South Sea Bubble. Early American opponents of finance combined republican and laissez-faire values to oppose the spread of finance.

2002 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 441-458
Author(s):  
Leong H. Liew ◽  
Harry X. Wu

Expectations and beliefs are important forces that can influence financial markets. Using results from a survey, this article examines the beliefs of currency traders in Hong Kong's financial institutions regarding the RMB and HK$/US$ pegs. In particular, it examines the attitudes of these currency traders towards the intervention by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in Hong Kong's stock and futures markets to defend the HK$/US$ peg during the Asian crisis in 1998. Contrary to expectation, not all currency traders in Hong Kong were diehard devotees of the free market and more were in support of the intervention than against. Degree of identification with Hong Kong was found to be important, influencing attitudes towards government intervention. An inference from the survey is that the intervention was popular with Hong Kong residents and that future intervention by the HKMA is likely if faced with similar speculative attacks on the HK$.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Walid Abdmoulah

Purpose This study aims to shed new light on the nexus between market competition and financial development (FD), using the new FD index developed by the IMF, covering financial institutions and markets access, depth and efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The author uses panel data from 140 countries over 2000–2014 period and a dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model, along with a sensitivity analysis over 2008 financial crisis. Findings Strong evidence of the positive impact of market competition, as measured by Boone index, on financial institutions and markets development is found, whereas banks concentration has a damaging effect on FD. Commonly used Lerner index is found to be irrelevant. Interestingly, none of the competition indexes in this study affects financial institutions returns, which hold even over 2008 financial crisis, likely at the expense of depth and access in developing countries. Institutions, as proxied by control of corruption, have broader positive impact on FD, particularly on financial markets. These findings have important implications for developing countries keen to foster the development of their financial system. Practical implications Policymakers should take into consideration that FI are unlikely to undertake deep improvements in terms of credit allocation depth and inclusion on a volunteer basis, unless constrained by regulations. When promoting bank competition, it is recommended to diversify methods targeting market competition, notably by promoting financial business diversification and intermediary efficiency, and tackling collusion arrangements or interest groups influence. Second, it is important to support households and small and medium enterprises’ access to finance. Third, it is highly recommended to promote good institutions given their overall beneficial role in promoting the financial system as a whole, notably financial markets. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to fully use the new IMF Financial Development index. It covers financial institutions and markets access, depth and efficiency, whereas most of previous findings focus on access to credit or cost of credit. Besides, the study uses a larger panel data from 140 countries over 2000–2014 period and a dynamic GMM estimator, along with a sensitivity analysis over (2007–2009) crisis. By exploring the impact of three different competition indicators, namely, Boone, Lerner and banks concentration indexes, the study responds to the concerns regarding the limitations of each of them.


Author(s):  
Richard S Collier

This book seeks to explain why and how banks ‘game the system’. More specifically, its objective is to account for why banks are so often involved in cases of misconduct and why those cases often involve the exploitation of tax systems. To do this, a case study is presented in Part I of the book. This case study concerns a highly complex transaction (often referred to as ‘cum-ex’) designed to exploit a flaw at the intersection of the tax system and the financial markets settlements system. It was entered into by a very large number of banks and other financial institutions. A number of factors make the cum-ex transaction remarkable, including the sheer scale of the financial amounts involved, the large number of banks and financial institutions involved, the comprehensive failure of the controls infrastructure in this highly regulated sector, and the fact that authorities across Europe have found it so difficult to deal with the transaction. Part II of the book draws out the wider significance of cum-ex and what it tells us about modern banks and their interactions with tax systems. The account demonstrates why the exploitation of tax systems by banks is practically inevitable due to a variety of systemic features of the financial markets and of tax systems themselves. A number of possible responses to the current position are suggested in the final chapter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (02) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Kamaldeep Kaur Sarna

COVID-19 is aptly stated as a Black Swan event that has stifled the global economy. As coronavirus wreaked havoc, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted globally, unemployment rate soared high, and economic recovery still seems a far-fetched dream. Most importantly, the pandemic has set up turbulence in the global financial markets and resulted in heightened risk elements (market risk, credit risk, bank runs etc.) across the globe. Such uncertainty and volatility has not been witnessed since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The spread of COVID-19 has largely eroded investors’ confidence as the stock markets neared lifetimes lows, bad loans spiked and investment values degraded. Due to this, many turned their backs on the risk-reward trade off and carted their money towards traditionally safer investments like gold. While the banking sector remains particularly vulnerable, central banks have provided extensive loan moratoriums and interest waivers. Overall, COVID-19 resulted in a short term negative impact on the financial markets in India, though it is making a way towards V-shaped recovery. In this context, the present paper attempts to identify and evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the financial markets in India. Relying on rich literature and live illustrations, the influence of COVID-19 is studied on the stock markets, banking and financial institutions, private equities, and debt funds. The paper covers several recommendations so as to bring stability in the financial markets. The suggestions include, but are not limited to, methods to regularly monitor results, establishing a robust mechanism for risk management, strategies to reduce Non-Performing Assets, continuous assessment of stress and crisis readiness of the financial institutions etc. The paper also emphasizes on enhancing the role of technology (Artificial Intelligence and Virtual/Augmented Reality) in the financial services sector to optimize the outcomes and set the path towards recovery.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-56
Author(s):  
MG Maiangwa

Poor farm households and other microentrepreneurs have difficulties in obtaining loans from banks and other financial institutions because they are unable to provide securities or collaterals for the loans. Collaterals on loans reduce uncertainty and moral hazard problems for creditors. They also serve as a measure of the seriousness of the borrower. The limited availability of conventional collaterals in rural financial markets has led to the acceptance of non-traditional methods of loan security referred to as collateral substitutes. This paper reviews loan collaterals and collateral substitutes in the rural financial markets of developing countries.Keywords:: Collaterals, collateral substitutes, rural finance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 54-70
Author(s):  
S. R. Moiseev

In 2022, Russian investors will get access to the wide possibilities of the global financial market. The Bank of Russia opens the market for foreign exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — one of the main savings instruments for households. The economy of ETFs differs from other investment funds, whose shares do not have secondary market. The opening of the ETFs market is intended to solve a number of issues for retail investors: moving away from the preference to individual foreign shares towards portfolio diversification, cost reduction, ensuring sustainable profitability, abandoning the aggressive securities trading, and supporting market competition. Soon, ETFs will be one of the driving forces in financial markets. However, their rapid growth is fraught with little-studied effects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hojat Mohammadi ◽  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Meysam Arabzadeh ◽  
Hassan Ghodrati

Purpose This paper aims to assess auditor narcissism’s effect on audit market competition (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure). Design/methodology/approach This paper’s method is descriptive-correlational based on published information from listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2012 to 2018 using a sample of 188 firms (1,310 observations). The method used for hypothesis testing is linear regression using panel data. Findings The results show a negative and significant relationship between auditor narcissism and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure. Moreover, a positive and significant relationship was observed between audit quality and audit market competition and its indices, including auditor concentration, client concentration and competitive pressure. Originality/value To analyzes competition indices in the audit market (auditor concentration, clients’ concentration and competitive pressure). The variable is assessed once more using the exploratory factor analysis of the so-called three variables single variable, named audit market competition. So the central question of the study is investigated within a broader sense. Moreover, as the present study is carried out in the emergent financial markets with extremely competitive audit markets to figure out the effect of auditors’ intrinsic characteristics on such markets’ competitiveness, it can provide useful information in this field.


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