Financialization in the European Union’s founding countries and the Visegrad Group countries

Abstract

As a result of the financial crisis of 2007, attention was drawn to the excessive growth of the financial sector. The process of the increasing role of the financial sector in the economy exists in the literature as financialization. The increase in the importance of finances affects the global economy, as a financial crisis in one developed country also affects other countries participating in the global financial market. Financialization is becoming more important in the economy and the financial sector. It has an equally significant impact on enterprises and households. States can vary in the degree of financialization of the economy. The aim of the article was to identify the degree of financialization by using indicators in two studied groups of countries: the founding states of the European Union and the Visegrad Group countries. The research problem was to verify the assumption that the degree of financialization is higher in the founding states of the European Union than in the Visegrad Group countries.