Iceland's meltdown: the rise and fall of international banking in the North Atlantic
This paper shows how rapid privatization and liberalization of Iceland's small local banks around 2000, combined with well-developed crony relations among the elite, enabled a small group of financiers to leverage government-guaranteed deposits into a vast wave of mergers and acquisitions abroa...
Published in: | Revista de Economia PolĂtica |
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Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English Portuguese |
Published: |
Editora 34
2011
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-31572011000500001 https://doaj.org/article/45c91bc991044e5db62836fea7a5f712 |
Summary: | This paper shows how rapid privatization and liberalization of Iceland's small local banks around 2000, combined with well-developed crony relations among the elite, enabled a small group of financiers to leverage government-guaranteed deposits into a vast wave of mergers and acquisitions abroad, and redistribute enough of the profits back home to make the economy boom. Negative policy feedback loops were systematically undermined. The incoming left-wing government, with IMF support, has managed to protect the bulk of the population from the worst of the effects. |
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