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Financial globalization has been one of the most intensely debated topics of our times. Some academic economists view increasing capital account liberalization and unfettered capital flows as a serious impediment to global financial stability (e.g., Rodrik, 1998; Bhagwati, 1998; Stiglitz, 2002), leading to calls for capital controls and the imposition of frictions such as “Tobin taxes” on international asset trade. In contrast, others argue that increased openness to capital flows has, by and large, proven essential for countries aiming to upgrade from lower to middle income status, while significantly enhancing stability among industrialized countries (e.g., Fischer, 1998; Summers, 2000).

Financial globalization is clearly a matter of considerable policy relevance, especially with major economies like China and India recently taking steps to open up their capital accounts. A number of developing countries are still in the early stages of financial globalization facing numerous ongoing policy decisions about the timing and pace of further integration. The stakes for such policy decisions are high because financial globalization is often blamed for the string of damaging economic crises that rocked a number of emerging markets in the late 1980s in Latin America and in the 1990s in Mexico and a handful of Asian countries. The market turmoil and resulting bankruptcies prompted a rash of finger pointing by those who suggested that developing countries had dismantled capital controls too hastily leaving themselves vulnerable to the harsh dictates of rapid capital movements and market herd effects.