The Fiscal Roots of Delayed Financial Liberalization in Western Europe, 1960-1991

Abstract

Capital controls survived in a number of European financial systems until the late 1980s, whereas other countries espoused a much more liberal approach. Why were financial reforms so controversial and controls so hard to dismantle? In the paper the determinants of delayed liberalization are empirically investigated for a panel of 16 European countries from 1960 to 1991. We find evidence in favour of a public finance interpretation of different attitudes towards financial liberalization.