Corporate Governance and Globalization

Abstract

There is growing interest in pressures on national systems of corporate governance to converge that are allegedly being generated by the process of globalization, especially the global integration of financial markets. Advocates of the merits of globalization contend that the trend will lead to a more efficient allocation of capital. Drawing on the cases of the United States and Germany, the author argues that considerable change has indeed occurred recently in national governance systems. These changes cannot be understood, however, as the outcome of a market-driven, efficiency-enhancing process. Rather, realignments in corporate governance reflect the growing economic and political power of those who have accumulated financial assets, a trend that is highly dependent on the extent of population aging and the social arrangements for pension provision in domestic economies.