Bad Policies or Systemic Dysfunction? The Perils of Financial Globalization: A South View

Abstract

The literature on globalizationon has rapidly mushroomed over the past 10 years. Public fora concerned with the issue span the whole spectrum between the World Economic Forum in Davos and the World Social Forum in Porto Allegro. Anti-globalization movements are to be found almost everywhere around the globe both North and South. This indicates clearly that globalization has come to be a very controversial category with many who are solidly for it, and those who strongly, sometimes even violently, oppose it. We are not concerned here with public (popular) action related to globalization. Our interest is rather in the globalization discourse: making a contribution to the debate by emphasizing some aspects of the view of the South on the issue with special emphasis on financial globalization and its implications for financial crises. We shall argue that the increased use of derivatives, particularly through over the counter trading and off-shore financial centres by large and complex financial institutions over the last two decades, represents a radical change in the international financial system. Such a systemic cwholesale liberalization of the capital account of developing countries is unwarranted. From a developmental perspective,liberalizing FDI flows may be beneficial, while liberalizing FDI may be harmful.