Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- List of contributors
- Financial reform
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Reforming finance: Approaches and importance
- Part II The reform experiences
- Part III Liberalizing the capital account and domestic financial reform
- Part IV Summary
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- List of contributors
- Financial reform
- 1 Introduction
- Part I Reforming finance: Approaches and importance
- Part II The reform experiences
- Part III Liberalizing the capital account and domestic financial reform
- Part IV Summary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Money … is a machine for doing quickly and commodiously what would be done, though less quickly and commodiously, without it; and like many other kinds of machinery, it exerts a distinct and independent influence of its own only when it gets out of order.
John Stuart MillOne can easily exaggerate the importance of finance, both when it is skillfully conducted and when it is not, but the suggestion that it usually falls into line and accommodates real forces – discoveries, inventions, population change, and the like – stretches belief.
Charles P. Kindleberger, A Financial History of Western EuropeInterest in reforming financial markets in developing economies has been rising, especially since the early 1980s, in part as a result of the reduction in international lending by commercial banks and the consequent need to increase domestic resources and maximize the efficiency with which they are invested. Reform programs also have often been the by-product of recognition of widespread financial distress. Developing countries' authorities that have embarked on reform recognized the inefficiencies associated with heavy intervention in the financial sector, especially with interest-rate controls and large directed-lending programs, and in many cases also were responding to difficulties in maintaining the efficacy of controls. Moreover, reforms have by no means been confined to developing nations: Rapid and sizable declines in computing and communication costs, product innovation, increased competition, and deregulation have changed the financial landscape in many industrialized countries in the last 20 years.
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- Financial ReformTheory and Experience, pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995
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