Examination of the Strengthening of Latin American Capital Markets

Latin America is a rapidly emerging economic region. As such, it is competing with Asian markets for attention and attractiveness. For decades, news about Latin America was not promising. However, in recent years, the major nations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico have made great efforts to improve their economic conditions and stabilize their markets. One fault of many Latin American countries in the past has been a high perceived level of corruption. Another fault of many Latin American countries has been a low perception of their ability to maintain stable capital markets and service their external debt. This paper intends to examine and compare the relationship between the stabilization of perceived corruption and country credit risk and increases (improvements) in market capitalization, levels of external debt, and foreign direct investment in nine emerging markets in two regions, Latin America and Asia