E-Book Overview
Since the 19th Century, there has been an accepted distinction between financial systems that separate commercial and investment banking and those that do not. This comprehensive collection aims to establish how and why financial systems develop, and how knowledge of financial differentiation in the 19th Century may afford insight into the development of contemporary banking structure. This book poses a systematic challenge to Alexander Gerschenkron's 1950s thesis on universal banks. With contributions from leading scholars such as Ranald Michie and Jaime Reis, this well written book provides solid and intriguing arguments throughout.
E-Book Content
The Origins of National Financial Systems
Since the nineteenth century, there has been an accepted distinction between financial systems in which commercial and investment banking are carried out by separate types of firms and those in which “universal banks” carry out both kinds of operation. The purpose of this comprehensive collection is to establish how and why financial systems have developed – this is important since establishing how financial differentiation occurred in the nineteenth century may well afford insight into whether or not the contemporary process of liberalization of financial systems will produce changes in banking structure. In the 1950s Alexander Gerschenkron argued that universal banks evolved in late-industrializing nations in order to take advantage of structural incentives for economic growth. This book poses a systematic challenge to the Gerschenkron thesis. With contributions from leading scholars such as Ranald Michie and Jaime Reis, this well-written book provides solid and intriguing arguments throughout. The Origins of National Financial Systems will be of interest to students and academics in several fields, including economic and financial history as well as international finance in g