South Korea has the worst lowest birth rate. Having more foreign investors participating, joining the stock market to buy more Korean firms could help counter that shrinking population. Israel is a good example showing why an MSCI upgrade is not a silver bullet for the local stock market. Markets don't often make that leap from the smaller pond to the larger pond.
South Korea’s stock market is one of the largest in Asia. The nation is home to huge conglomerates including Samsung and Hyundai. And yet Korea is still listed as an emerging market — not a developed one — by MSCI, the investment research firm that provides influential market indexes. Korea argues it should be elevated to MSCI’s World Index, where it would sit alongside the US, UK, Germany and other developed economic powers. The company is expected to decide this month.
Bloomberg’s Youkyung Lee and Henry Ren join this episode to talk about why this move matters so much to South Korea — and why some companies and market watchers are having second thoughts about whether such a move is a good idea — or even worth it.
Read more: Why Bringing a $1.8 Trillion Stock Market to the Big Leagues Could Backfire
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