The globalization of finance.
In London in April, the G20 must globalise regulation of finance to match the globalisation of the financial industry.
"The sources of their dignity, the dignity of labour, have been eroded and mocked by … globalisation, the rise of finance, the attention that is lavished by parties across the political spectrum on economic and financial elites, [and] the technocratic emphasis of the established political parties".
"The big question is whether any political force is capable of stemming the tides of globalisation – of capital, trade, finance, industry, criminality, drugs and weapon trafficking, terrorism, and the migration of the victims of all these forces," writes the eminent sociologist Zygmunt Bauman, who has spearheaded much of the thinking in this area.
The biggest danger is that legitimate criticisms of the excesses of finance risk turning into an unwarranted assault on the whole of globalisation.
The globalisation of industries such as oil, cars and finance has left Japanese companies too small and too insular.
Rich-country suppliers of finance, rich-country regulators and the international financial institutions directed by rich-country governments all need to do better if the full mutual benefits of financial globalisation are to be achieved.
This adds to the perception that globalisation is an irresistible force beyond the control of governments, a process driven by countless invisible hands, infallible business acumen and continuous technological revolution, and reaching its zenith with the unleashing of finance.
Journal of Finance, forthcoming.
