| This dissertation seeks to explain the timing, pace, and style of financial market opening in the developing countries. The major contention of the dissertation is that existing explanations of financial market opening have failed to reach consensus because they improperly aggregate the financial market opening process into a single action. This dissertation separates the part of the process into its timing, pace and style. The guiding hypothesis is that the factors specified in earlier literature influence different parts of the process. International capital mobility has the strongest influence on the general timing of opening. Executive initiative explains the specific timing of opening. Domestic political arrangements, specifically, the bargaining power of important social groups relative to the government and international actors, has the strongest influence on the pace and style of opening. General economic conditions, including the health of the domestic economy and the need to attract external capital do not directly influence the timing, pace, or style. However, economic variables play an important role through their indirect effect on the relative bargaining power of important social groups. This dissertation seeks to provide support for its hypotheses using two methodologies. The first is a quantitative study of opening style using panel data from twenty-five developing countries. The second is an in-depth case study of Mexico's financial market opening and briefer reviews of opening in Thailand and Chile. |
