Commonality without convergence: An analytical framework Accounting for variegated financialisation in emerging economies

Abstract

Financialisation is not a homogenous but a variegated process. However, the question along which categories this variegation happens is currently unanswered. We identify four variegation categories: financial sector structure, productive structures, the role of the state, and the growth model. We apply these categories to two seemingly similar emerging-economy contexts which have produced different financialisation experiences: Colombia and South Africa. Financialisation in South Africa is much more market-based, meaning it is led by the financial sector unfolding through financial markets and banks’ activities visible in their much larger size, activity, and international interconnectedness, than in Colombia. Hence, South African credit extension, bond markets, domestic pension funds, and stock market capitalisation are substantially larger than Colombia’s, while the Rand has experienced strong internationalisation since 2000. Nevertheless, there is evidence financialisation processes have been unfolding dynamically in both countries over the past two decades, reinforcing the view of variegated financialisation as a common tendency with significant heterogeneities across countries.