Our analysis does, however, suggest that stock exchanges in emerging markets do
not seem to have comparative advantage in offering capital raising, listing and trading
services. Nevertheless, many medium-sized firms with local informational needs may not
be able to go directly overseas. This may imply a need for some mechanism in each
country to bring firms for the first time to a public market. This may not need to require a
stock exchange, however, but rather an active market-in the form of venture capital
firms, commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, and institutional investors with
links to international financial centers-for the financing of new and expanding firms.
While we shed light on the internationalization side, more research is needed on what constitutes not only the minimum legal, but also institutional setup for such an active firststage
financing industry, and whether or not that includes some form of a local market for
public shares.