Internationalization and Regulation of the World’s Securities Markets

Abstract

Growth in the internationalization of world securities markets in the 1980s has been remarkable. Aggregate foreign purchases and sales of securities in the United States grew from $75.1 billion in 1980 to $416.3 billion in 1989—a cumulative annual growth rate of 21.0 percent maintained over a full decade.1 Meanwhile, aggregate U.S. purchases and sales of foreign securities grew at an even more rapid 32.8 percent cumulative annual growth rate, from $17.9 billion in 1980 to $230.3 billion in 1989.