Globalization and the (Mis)Governance of Nations

We analyze whether or not the globalization of capital, `disciplines' governments and improves gov- ernance. We demonstrate that globalization a ects governance, by increasing a country's vulnerability to sudden capital ight. This increased threat of capital ight can discipline governments and improve governance and welfare by placing countries in a `golden straitjacket'. However, globalization may also overdiscipline' governments { resulting in a perverse impact on governmental incentives that catalyzes mis)governance. Accordingly, the paper suggests a novel (and quali ed) role for capital controls. Finally, we provide some suggestive evidence consistent with the predictions from our theoretical framework.