IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/rfa/aefjnl/v12y2025i1p62-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Net Reverse Transfers from Latin America and The Caribbean: A Critical Note

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel D. Ramirez

Abstract

This paper investigates whether the surge in private capital inflows Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has experienced in recent decades has also been accompanied by a significant outflow of profits and interest payments to foreign companies and their respective governments. It documents that there has been a massive reverse transfer of resources from the region to the developed countries of the world, particularly during the 2015-2023 period. The amounts transferred are not only large in absolute terms, but also relative to regional gross domestic product (GDP) and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) for several countries of the region, including Chile and Mexico. This represents foregone opportunities for domestic investment in physical and human capital and may further undermine the already strained capacity of the region to generate future income and employment opportunities for its growing population. It is beyond the scope of this short paper to address the important question of whether the financial and technological (managerial) knowhow foreign capital ostensibly brings to the region is enough to offset the negative effects emanating from the unprecedented reverse transfer of resources in recent decades. The paper is organized as follows. The first section focuses on the surge in Net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the 1990-2022 period. This is followed by a discussion of the unprecedented reverse transfers the region experienced during the period, particularly 2015-2023. The third section presents results for a labor productivity growth (error correction) equation for Mexico during the 1970-2020 period and the estimates suggest that, once remittances of profits are deducted, the impact of the growth rate in the net foreign capital stock per worker on labor productivity growth is diminished significantly, ceteris paribus. The last section is the conclusion.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel D. Ramirez, 2025. "Net Reverse Transfers from Latin America and The Caribbean: A Critical Note," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(1), pages 62-73, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:rfa:aefjnl:v:12:y:2025:i:1:p:62-73
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/download/7530/6811
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/view/7530
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johansen, Soren & Juselius, Katarina, 1990. "Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Inference on Cointegration--With Applications to the Demand for Money," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 52(2), pages 169-210, May.
    2. Chen, Chung & Chang, Lawrence & Zhang, Yimin, 1995. "The role of foreign direct investment in China's post-1978 economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 691-703, April.
    3. Ram, Rati & Zhang, Kevin Honglin, 2002. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Evidence from Cross-Country Data for the 1990s," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 205-215, October.
    4. Osei, Michael J. & Kim, Jaebeom, 2020. "Foreign direct investment and economic growth: Is more financial development better?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 154-161.
    5. Sebastian Edwards, 1999. "How Effective Are Capital Controls?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 65-84, Fall.
    6. Tain-jy Chen & Yi-Ping Chen, 1995. "Foreign Direct Investment," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 57-68.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miguel D. Ramirez, 2024. "Foreign Capital and Economic Growth in Mexico: Further Time-Series Evidence, 1970-2020," Research in Applied Economics, Macrothink Institute, vol. 16(2), pages 37-48, December.
    2. Sun, Qian & Tong, Wilson & Yu, Qiao, 2002. "Determinants of foreign direct investment across China," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 79-113, February.
    3. Abdullahi Ahmed & Enjiang Cheng & George Messinis, 2011. "The role of exports, FDI and imports in development: evidence from Sub-Saharan African countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(26), pages 3719-3731.
    4. Yao, Shujie & Wei, Kailei, 2007. "Economic growth in the presence of FDI: The perspective of newly industrialising economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 211-234, March.
    5. Facchini, Giovanni & Liu, Maggie Y. & Mayda, Anna Maria & Zhou, Minghai, 2019. "China's “Great Migration”: The impact of the reduction in trade policy uncertainty," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 126-144.
    6. Jeon, Yongbok & Park, Byung Il & Ghauri, Pervez N., 2013. "Foreign direct investment spillover effects in China: Are they different across industries with different technological levels?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 105-117.
    7. Miguel Ramirez & Zsófia Kőműves, 2014. "Economic Infrastructure, Private Capital Formation, and FDI Inflows to Hungary: A Unit Root and Cointegration Analysis with Structural Breaks," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(4), pages 367-382, December.
    8. Hasanov, Fakhri J. & Aliyev, Ruslan & Taskin, Dilvin & Suleymanov, Elchin, 2023. "Oil rents and non-oil economic growth in CIS oil exporters. The role of financial development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Joseph Kwadwo Tuffour & Thelma Mensah, 2018. "The Effects of Governance Type and Economic Crises on Foreign Direct Investment Inflows in Ghana," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 53(2), pages 63-80, May.
    10. Solarin, Sakiru Adebola & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2015. "Natural gas consumption and economic growth: The role of foreign direct investment, capital formation and trade openness in Malaysia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 835-845.
    11. Mah, Jai S., 2010. "Foreign direct investment inflows and economic growth of China," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 155-158, January.
    12. Yip, Paul S.L. & Yao, S.T., 2006. "Removing foreign direct investment's exchange rate risk in developing economies: the case for a foreign exchange custodian board," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 294-315.
    13. Y. Wu, 1998. "The Performance of Foreign Direct Investment in China: A preliminary analysis," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 98-06, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. Ramirez, M.D., 2009. "Public Capital Formation and Labor Productivity Growth in Argentina," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(1).
    15. Elsiddig Yousif Mohammed Mousa, 2019. "Analytical Study of Factors Affecting Investment in Saudi Arabia from the Period of 1990- 2017," International Journal of Applied Economics, Finance and Accounting, Online Academic Press, vol. 4(1), pages 10-14.
    16. Panayiotis Diamantis & Dimitris Georgoutsos & George Kouretas, 2001. "The Monetary Approach in the Presence of I(2) Components: A Cointegration Analysis of the Official and Black Market for Foreign Currency in Latin America," Working Papers 0108, University of Crete, Department of Economics.
    17. Chun-Hung Lin & Chia-Ming Lee & Chih-Hai Yang, 2011. "Does foreign direct investment really enhance China's regional productivity?," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 741-768, August.
    18. Ammara Hussain & Ammar Oad & Munir Ahmad & Muhammad Irfan & Farhan Saqib, 2021. "Do Financial Development and Economic Openness Matter for Economic Progress in an Emerging Country? Seeking a Sustainable Development Path," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-18, May.
    19. Robert Alexander & Rui-cong Sang & Sajid Anwar, 2016. "Regional Policy and Industrial Relocation in China: A Panel Data Analysis," EcoMod2016 9277, EcoMod.
    20. Riazullah Shinwari & Imran Zakeria & Muhammad Usman & Muhammad Sadiq, 2024. "Revisiting the Relationship Between FDI, Natural Resources, and Economic Growth in Afghanistan: Does Political (in) Stability Matter?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 5174-5203, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rfa:aefjnl:v:12:y:2025:i:1:p:62-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Redfame publishing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.