Investor Choice in Global Securities Markets

This paper, which forms part of the first phase of the New Special Study of the Securities Markets Project, explores how globalization has affected the operation of securities markets and the challenges this poses for their regulation. In Part I, we discuss how three secular trends – liberalization, institutionalization, and technologization – have contributed to unprecedented levels of cross-border activity in securities markets in recent decades and offer a framework for understanding cross-border issues in securities regulation policymaking. Against this background, we review the state of international regulatory cooperation and offer some conjectures as to its likely future trajectory. In Part II, we analyze regulatory aspects of cross-border equity investment in four areas: capital raising (primary markets), trading (secondary markets), intermediaries, and supervision and enforcement. In so doing, we highlight, by way of contrast, some areas where other countries have taken a notably different regulatory approach from the US. We conclude by identifying issues where further research may usefully inform the future design of US securities regulation.