Financialisation and financial crisis in Iceland

Financialisation in Iceland should be seen as an evolving process driven by a mixture of global and domestic forces. Responding to fundamental issues underlying macroeconomic imbalances, the authorities introduced policies that proved particularly supportive of financial expansion at a time when cro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention
Main Author: Guðmundsson, Björn Rúnar
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing 2016
Subjects:
E02
E21
E22
E25
F36
G01
O11
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10419/277368
https://doi.org/10.4337/ejeep.2016.03.05
Description
Summary:Financialisation in Iceland should be seen as an evolving process driven by a mixture of global and domestic forces. Responding to fundamental issues underlying macroeconomic imbalances, the authorities introduced policies that proved particularly supportive of financial expansion at a time when cross-border capital movements were rapidly on the rise. Consequently, the rise in financial activity has had profound effects on income distribution and corporate and household behaviour. Following the 2008 financial meltdown, which was triggered by excessive growth of the financial sector, financialisation in Iceland has reversed to a degree, allowing for a shift away from financial-led towards increasingly export-led growth.