Globalization - Real Assets

Real assets represent the productive capacity of the firm, and appear as assets on the firm's balance sheet. Financial assets are claims against the firm, and thus appear as liabilities on the firm's balance sheet. On the other hand, financial assets are listed on the asset side of the balance sheet of the individuals who own them. Thus, when financial statements are aggregated across the economy, the financial assets cancel out, leaving only the real assets, which directly contribute to the productive capacity of the economy. Financial assets contribute indirectly only.

The purpose of this question is to ascertain if the student understands the difference between real and financial assets, both in the aggregate balance sheet context and the relative contribution of the two types of assets to the productive capacity of the economy.

Globalization offers a wider array of investment choices than what would be available to investors who could only choose domestic securities. As efficient communication technology has become available, globalization of markets has been significantly enhanced. There are many mechanisms by which one country's investors can hold foreign companies' securities. Some examples are ADRs, WEBS, and direct purchase of foreign securities.

Securitization refers to aggregating underlying financial assets, such as mortgages, into pools and then offering a security that represents a claim on these underlying assets. Examples are GNMAs. Securitization allows investors to hold partial ownership in financial assets that would otherwise be beyond their reach (e.g., mortgages).

Financial engineering involves bundling or unbundling. Bundling involves combining separate securities together into one composite security. Examples are combining primitive and derivative securities, and combining three primitive securities such as common stock, preferred stock, and bonds. Unbundling is the opposite - two or more security classes are created by separating a composite security into parts.

Computer networks have permitted online trading, online information dissemination and automated trade crossing. Each of these major breakthroughs has significant implications for investments.