Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

The Microeconomic Evidence on Capital Controls: No Free Lunch

In: Capital Controls and Capital Flows in Emerging Economies: Policies, Practices and Consequences

Contents:

Author Info

  • Kristin J. Forbes

Abstract

Macroeconomic analyses of capital controls face a number of imposing challenges and have yielded mixed results to date. This paper takes a different approach and surveys an emerging literature that evaluates various microeconomic effects of capital controls and capital account liberalization. Several key themes emerge. First, capital controls tend to reduce the supply of capital, raise the cost of financing, and increase financial constraints - especially for smaller firms, firms without access to international capital markets and firms without access to preferential lending. Second, capital controls can reduce market discipline in financial markets and the government, leading to a more inefficient allocation of capital and resources. Third, capital controls significantly distort decision-making by firms and individuals, as they attempt to minimize the costs of the controls or even evade them outright. Fourth, the effects of capital controls can vary across different types of firms and countries, reflecting different pre-existing economic distortions. Finally, capital controls can be difficult and costly to enforce, even in countries with sound institutions and low levels of corruption. This microeconomic evidence on capital controls suggests that they have pervasive effects and often generate unexpected costs. Capital controls are no free lunch.

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c0152.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

as in new window

This chapter was published in:

  • Sebastian Edwards, 2007. "Capital Controls and Capital Flows in Emerging Economies: Policies, Practices and Consequences," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number edwa06-1, October.
    This item is provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Chapters with number 0152.

    Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:0152

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
    Phone: 617-868-3900
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.nber.org
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords:

    Other versions of this item:

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R., 2003. "Emerging markets finance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1-2), pages 3-56, February.
    2. Geert Bekaert & Campbell R. Harvey, 1997. "Foreign Speculators and Emerging Equity Markets," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 79, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    3. Hali J. Edison & Michael W. Klein & Luca Ricci & Torsten Sloek, 2002. "Capital Account Liberalization and Economic Performance: Survey and Synthesis," NBER Working Papers 9100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Chari, Anusha & Henry, Peter B., 2002. "Risk Sharing and Asset Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Research Papers 1736r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    5. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    6. Shang-Jin Wei & Gaston Gelos, 2002. "Transparency and International Investor Behavior," IMF Working Papers 02/174, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Henry, Peter B. & Lorentzen, Peter Lombard, 2003. "Domestic Capital Market Reform and Access to Global Finance: Making Markets Work," Research Papers 1820, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    8. repec:imf:imfocp:220 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Rodrigo Cifuentes & Jorge Desormeaux & Claudio González, 2002. "Capital markets in Chile: from financial repression to financial deepening," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), The development of bond markets in emerging economies, volume 11, pages 86-102 Bank for International Settlements.
    10. Francisco A. Gallego & Norman Loayza, 2000. "Financial Structure in Chile: Macroeconomic Developments and Microeconomic Effects," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1115, Econometric Society.
    11. Kan Li & Randall Morck & Fan Yang & Bernard Yeung, 2003. "Firm-Specific Variation and Openness in Emerging Markets," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-623, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    12. Sergio Schmukler & Esteban Vesperoni, 2001. "Globalization and Firms' Financing Choices: Evidence from Emerging Economies," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 388, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    13. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 92-96, May.
    14. Harris, John R & Schiantarelli, Fabio & Siregar, Miranda G, 1994. "The Effect of Financial Liberalization on the Capital Structure and Investment Decisions of Indonesian Manufacturing Establishments," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 8(1), pages 17-47, January.
    15. Arturo Galindo & Fabio Schiantarelli & Andrew Weiss, 2002. "Does Financial Liberalization Improve the Allocation of Investment?: Micro Evidence from Developing Countries," Research Department Publications 4295, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    16. Francisco A. Gallego & Leonardo Hernandez & Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, 2000. "Capital Controls in Chile: Effective? Efficient?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0330, Econometric Society.
    17. Kristin J Forbes, 2002. "How Do Large Depreciations Affect Firm Performance?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 49(Special i), pages 214-238.
    18. Prakash Loungani & Paolo Mauro, 2001. "Capital Flight from Russia," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 689-706, 05.
    19. Forbes, Kristin J., 2002. "Cheap labor meets costly capital: the impact of devaluations on commodity firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 335-365, December.
    20. Haramillo, Fidel & Schiantarelli, Fabio & Weiss, Andrew, 1996. "Capital market imperfections before and after financial liberalization: An Euler equation approach to panel data for Ecuadorian firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 367-386, December.
    21. Abdul Abiad & Nienke Oomes & Kenichi Ueda, 2004. "The Quality Effect: Does Financial Liberalization Improve the Allocation of Capital?," IMF Working Papers 04/112, International Monetary Fund.
    22. A. Abalkin & J. Whalley, 1999. "The Problem of Capital Flight from Russia," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 421-444, 05.
    23. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-86, June.
    24. Sebastian Auguste & Kathryn M.E. Dominguez & Herman Kamil & Linda L. Tesar, 2002. "Cross-Border Trading as a Mechanism for Capital Flight: ADRs and the Argentine Crisis," NBER Working Papers 9343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Michael Klein & Giovanni Olivei, 1999. "Capital account liberalization, financial depth, and economic growth," Working Papers 99-6, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    26. Salvador Valdés-Prieto & Marcelo Soto, 1998. "The Effectiveness of Capital Controls: Theory and Evidence from Chile," Empirica, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 133-164, January.
    27. Ross Levine, 2004. "Finance and Growth: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 10766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Bekaert, Geert & Harvey, Campbell R. & Lundblad, Christian, 2006. "Growth volatility and financial liberalization," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 370-403, April.
    29. Luc Laeven, 2002. "Does Financial Liberalization Reduce Financing Constraints?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 31(4), Winter.
    30. Forbes, Kristin J., 2007. "One cost of the Chilean capital controls: Increased financial constraints for smaller traded firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 294-323, April.
    31. Harrison, Ann E. & Love, Inessa & McMillan, Margaret S., 2004. "Global capital flows and financing constraints," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 269-301, October.
    32. Aghion, Philippe & Bacchetta, Philippe & Banerjee, Abhijit, 2000. "Currency Crises and Monetary Policy in an Economy with Credit Constraints," CEPR Discussion Papers 2529, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    33. Natalia T. Tamirisa & R. B. Johnston, 1998. "Why Do Countries Use Capital Controls?," IMF Working Papers 98/181, International Monetary Fund.
    34. Gaston Gelos & Alejandro M. Werner, 1999. "Financial Liberalization, Credit Constraints, and Collateral - Investment in the Mexican Manufacturing Sector," IMF Working Papers 99/25, International Monetary Fund.
    35. Johnson, Simon & Mitton, Todd, 2003. "Cronyism and capital controls: evidence from Malaysia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-382, February.
    36. Melvin, Michael, 2003. "A stock market boom during a financial crisis?: ADRs and capital outflows in Argentina," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 129-136, October.
    37. Stanley Fischer, 2001. "Exchange Rate Regimes: Is the Bipolar View Correct?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 3-24, Spring.
    38. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2004. "Serial Default and the "Paradox" of Rich to Poor Capital Flows," NBER Working Papers 10296, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Reisen, Helmut & Soto, Marcelo, 2001. "Which Types of Capital Inflows Foster Developing-Country Growth?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 1-14, Spring.
    40. Henry, Peter B. & Chari, Anusha, 2004. "Is the Invisible Hand Discerning or Indiscriminate? Investment and Stock Prices in the Aftermath of Capital Account Liberalizations," Research Papers 1839, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    41. Ross Levine & Sergio L. Schmukler, 2003. "Migration, Spillovers,and Trade Diversion: The Impact of Internationalization on Stock Market Liquidity," NBER Working Papers 9614, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    42. Jaramillo, Fidel & Schiantarelli, Fabio & Weiss, Andrew, 1993. "The effect of financial liberalization on allocation of credit : panel data evidence for Ecuador," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1092, The World Bank.
    43. Barry Eichengreen, 2004. "Capital Flows and Crises," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550598.
    44. Menzie D. Chinn & Hiro Ito, 2002. "Capital Account Liberalization, Institutions and Financial Development: Cross Country Evidence," NBER Working Papers 8967, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    45. Stanley Fischer, 2003. "Globalization and Its Challenges," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 1-30, May.
    46. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2004. "Capital Controls, Liberalizations, and Foreign Direct Investement," NBER Working Papers 10337, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    47. Francisco A. Gallego & F. Leonardo Hernández, 2003. "Microeconomic effects of capital controls: The chilean experience during the 1990s," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(3), pages 225-253.
    48. Akira Ariyoshi & Andrei Kirilenko & Inci Ötker & Bernard Laurens & Jorge Iván Canales Kriljenko & Karl Friedrich Habermeier, 2000. "Capital Controls: Country Experiences with Their Use and Liberalization," IMF Occasional Papers 190, International Monetary Fund.
    49. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 1998. "Law, Finance, and Firm Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(6), pages 2107-2137, December.
    50. Henry, Peter Blair, 2000. "Do stock market liberalizations cause investment booms?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 301-334.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Capital controls impeding economic growth
      by Ajay Shah in Ajay Shah's blog on 2006-07-30 03:28:00
    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as in new window

    Cited by:
    This item has more than 25 citations. To prevent cluttering this page, these citations are listed on a separate page.

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:0152

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.