Variegated financialisation and pension fund asset demand: the case of Colombia and Peru

Abstract

This article seeks to explain concretely how one ‘variegation’ of financialization in the emerging economy setting is being shaped by the growth of domestic pension funds. Taking Colombia and Perú as case studies, we explore the evolution of pension fund demand subsequent to substantial pension policy reforms in the 1990s. Drawing on comparative political economy and the recent literature on subordinate financialization in emerging economies, we present a three-tiered conjecture regarding what is shaping pension fund demand: (a) the particular institutional context of ‘hierarchical market economies’ and neoliberal market reforms, (b) the ‘extraverted’ growth regime and (c) subordinate financial integration. The resulting demand calls forth financial innovation and movement towards market-based financial mechanisms as seen with financialization elsewhere, yet in this instance occurring largely outside of domestic capital markets.