#97-19
"Country and Firm Sources of International Competitiveness: The Case of the Foreign Exchange Market"
Abstract: Competitiveness in the foreign exchange market depends on both country and firm-specific factors. Country-specific factors in the form of the importance in the foreign exchange market of the home currency and the home regulatory and legal system explain much; of the two the legal and regulatory system appears more critical. Firm-specific factors in the form of the size and international reach of the banks that make the market play a role. When the domestic market is particularly rivalrous, in the sense that firms face strong domestic competitors, that itself is an important factor. Still nothing is absolute; some banks overcome national weakness and some banks do not live up to the potential inherent in their national origin. Lastly, a bank's competitiveness tends to persist in time and to extend across even to unrelated currency markets.
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