Path dependence and financial markets:: the economic geography of the German model, 1997-2003
Path dependence and financial markets:: the economic geography of the German model, 1997-2003
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DOI：
10.1068/a3724
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发表时间：
2005-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Wójcik, D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Clark, GL;Wójcik, D
学术界似乎分为两个阵营：一个是强调全球金融和资本市场一体化的阵营，另一个是强调独特的地方积累制度的经济地理位置的阵营。首先，资本流动和全球经济竞争的腐蚀性力量被认为是推动制度趋同的因素。在第二种情况下，关系和继承制度的稳定性以路径依赖的必要性为前提。除了相互漠视和敌对之外，这些阵营之间几乎从来没有对话。在本文中，我们寻求这两种世界观之间的和解。在这样做的过程中，我们关注欧洲大陆，特别是德国的最近事态发展。与英美的预期形成对比的是，我们认为，德国模式根本算不上是一个模式；它在资本市场结构和表现上具有明显的独特经济地理特征。此外，我们还辩称，过去不是未来：有证据表明，英国采用了与英美模式一致、与继承的德国模式不一致的金融做法和制度。我们的目标是双重的。我们论证了经济地理学对于理解德国资本市场结构的重要性，并试图解释路径依赖如何解体，以及推动制度趋同的力量如何在过去的背景下出现。在这方面，我们的目标既是经验的，也是理论的，并对经济地理学的地位和意义进行概念化。
The academic community seems divided into two camps: those who emphasise global finance and capital market integration and those who emphasise the economic geography of distinctively local regimes of accumulation. In the first instance, flows of capital and the corrosive forces of global economic competition are assumed to drive institutional convergence. In the second instance, the stability of relationships and inherited institutions presupposes the necessity of path dependence. There is hardly ever dialogue between these camps except for mutual disregard and antagonism. In this paper we seek a rapprochement between these two world-views. In doing so, we focus on recent developments in continental Europe and particularly in Germany. In contrast with Anglo-American expectations, we argue that the German model is hardly a model at all; it has a distinctive economic geography apparent in capital market structure and performance. We also argue, moreover, that the past is not the future: there is evidence of the adoption of financial practices and institutions consistent with the Anglo-American model and inconsistent with the inherited German model. Our goals are twofold. We demonstrate the significance of economic geography for understanding German capital market structure and we seek to explain how path dependence may unravel and the forces driving institutional convergence can emerge within the context of the past. In this respect, our goals are both empirical and theoretical and have implications for conceptualising the status and significance of economic geography.