Essays on International Capital Flows

Essays on International Capital Flows
Author: Tatiana Glindmeier Didier Brandão
Publisher:
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:

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This dissertation consists of three chapters on international capital flows. Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of innovations in the investment opportunity set, captured by changes in expected asset returns, as an important mechanism to explain international capital flows. More specifically, it analyzes the implications of time-varying portfolio shares on the dynamics of the current account. The predictions of a partial-equilibrium model of the current account, with dynamic portfolio choices, are evaluated using data for the U.S. and Japan. We show that variations in investment opportunities change agents' optimal portfolios in a direction consistent with the actual bilateral current account movements. Chapter 2 focuses on two questions related to international investment and access to international capital markets. First, does the structural change in the U.S. mutual fund industry toward more "aggregation" (favoring funds that invest globally over funds that invest in specific countries or regions) affect firms in other countries? And second, are investors forgoing gains from international diversification by shifting toward more global funds? The empirical evidence presented suggests that the answer is yes to both questions. Chapter 3 investigates the relation between information asymmetries and institutional investor mandate. The results suggest that information asymmetries vary across institutional investor mandates, being significantly more pronounced for funds with broader mandates.

International Mutual Funds, Capital Flow Volatility, and Contagion – A Survey

International Mutual Funds, Capital Flow Volatility, and Contagion – A Survey
Author: Mr.R. Gelos
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 29
Release: 2011-04-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1455253316

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Gaining a better understanding of the behavior of international investors is key for informing the debate about the optimal response to capital flows and about reforms to the international financial architecture. In this context, recent research on the behavior of international mutual funds at the micro level has expanded our knowledge about the drivers of portfolio flows and the mechanisms behind the transmission of financial shocks across countries. This paper provides a brief survey of this literature, with a focus on the empirical evidence for emerging markets. Overall, the behavior of international mutual funds is complex and overly simplistic characterizations are misleading. However, there is broad-based evidence for momentum trading among funds. Moreover, funds tend to avoid opaque markets and assets, and this behavior becomes more pronounced during volatile times. Portfolio rebalancing mechanisms are clearly important in explaining contagion patterns, even in the absence of common macroeconomic fundamentals. From a surveillance point of view, this implies that monitoring the exposures of large investors at a micro level is crucial to assess vulnerabilities.

International Capital Flows and Development

International Capital Flows and Development
Author: Mr.Thierry Tressel
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 145520935X

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Does capital flow from rich to poor countries? We revisit the Lucas paradox and explore the role of capital account restrictions in shaping capital flows at various stages of economic development. We find that, when accounting for the degree of capital account openness, the prediction of the neoclassical theory is confirmed: less developed countries tend to experience net capital inflows and more developed countries tend to experience net capital outflows, conditional of various countries’ characteristics. The findings are driven by foreign direct investment, portfolio equity investment, and to some extent by loans to the private sector.

International Capital Flows

International Capital Flows
Author: Martin Feldstein
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2007-12-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226241807

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Recent changes in technology, along with the opening up of many regions previously closed to investment, have led to explosive growth in the international movement of capital. Flows from foreign direct investment and debt and equity financing can bring countries substantial gains by augmenting local savings and by improving technology and incentives. Investing companies acquire market access, lower cost inputs, and opportunities for profitable introductions of production methods in the countries where they invest. But, as was underscored recently by the economic and financial crises in several Asian countries, capital flows can also bring risks. Although there is no simple explanation of the currency crisis in Asia, it is clear that fixed exchange rates and chronic deficits increased the likelihood of a breakdown. Similarly, during the 1970s, the United States and other industrial countries loaned OPEC surpluses to borrowers in Latin America. But when the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates to control soaring inflation, the result was a widespread debt moratorium in Latin America as many countries throughout the region struggled to pay the high interest on their foreign loans. International Capital Flows contains recent work by eminent scholars and practitioners on the experience of capital flows to Latin America, Asia, and eastern Europe. These papers discuss the role of banks, equity markets, and foreign direct investment in international capital flows, and the risks that investors and others face with these transactions. By focusing on capital flows' productivity and determinants, and the policy issues they raise, this collection is a valuable resource for economists, policymakers, and financial market participants.

International Capital Flows and the Lucas Paradox

International Capital Flows and the Lucas Paradox
Author: Muhammad Akhtaruzzaman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2019-06-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 981139069X

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This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the debates on international capital flows, and presents a new evidence-based answer to the long-standing question of why capital doesn’t tend to flow from rich to poor countries as predicted by standard neoclassical theory – a puzzle known as the Lucas paradox. Further, the book reviews alternative approaches to conventional estimates of the marginal product of capital (MPK) and considers whether these estimates actually help us understand observed international capital flows. A rigorous quantitative approach is subsequently used to provide clear empirical evidence on the determinants of capital flows across borders. The findings of this empirical analysis suggest that generous economic policies on capital account convertibility are more influential than differences in institutional quality in terms of determining international capital flows. In closing, the relative importance of various types of political risk (e.g. expropriation and corruption) is examined. After determining that expropriation risk has one of the greatest effects on foreign direct investment (FDI), the book proposes an appealingly intuitive explanation for the lack of FDI flows to many capital-scarce developing countries.

Emerging Market Portfolio Flows

Emerging Market Portfolio Flows
Author: Mr.Serkan Arslanalp
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2015-12-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 151357065X

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Portfolio flows to emerging markets (EMs) tend to be correlated. A possible explanation is the role global benchmarks play in allocating capital internationally, the so-called “benchmark effect.” This paper finds that benchmark-driven investors indeed play a large role in a key segment of the market—the EM local currency government bond market—, accounting for more than one third of total foreign holdings as of end-2014. We find that the prominence of these investors declined somewhat after the May 2013 taper tantrum, but remain high. This distinction is important in understanding the drivers of EM capital flows and their sensitivity to different types of shocks. In particular, a high share of benchmark-driven investors may result in capital flows that are more sensitive to global shocks and less sensitive to country factors.