Capital Mobility and Economic Performance: Are Emerging Economies Different?

Sebastian Edwards

NBER Working Paper No. 8076
Issued in January 2001
NBER Program(s):   IFM

In this paper I use a new cross-country data set to investigate the effects of capital mobility on economic growth. The new indicator of capital mobility used in this analysis is superior to previously used indexes in two respects: (1) It allows for intermediate situations, where a country's capital account is semi-open; and (2) it is available for two different periods in time. The results obtained suggest that, after controlling for other variables (including aggregate investment), countries with a more open capital account have outperformed countries that have restricted capital mobility. There is also evidence, however, suggesting that an open capital account positively affects growth only after a country has achieved a certain degree of economic development. This provides support to the view that there is an optimal sequencing for capital account liberalization.

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