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This study empirically examines the effect of capital controls on the volume and composition of capital flows at aggregated as well as at disaggregated level by different asset classes such as debt, FDI, equity, and derivatives.

Several dynamic panel SYS-GMM models are employed on two sets of unique data on cross-border capital flows and capital control index along with control variables at aggregated and disaggregated level by different asset classes during 1995–2015 for a sample of 31 Asian economies.

Econometric findings suggest that higher capital controls effectively reduce gross capital flows. The reduction in gross capital flows is largely found to be on account of effectiveness of controls on equity flows. However, the impact of controls on overall debt and derivative flows is found to be insignificant. Further, it was found that an increase in direct capital controls disaggregated by inflow and outflow categories significantly reduced the inflow of debt and equity + FDI flows and outflow of equity + FDI and derivative flows. Finally, the study did not find any substitution effect (due to indirect controls) and net effect on capital flows.

Results of such empirical examination may enable governments in respective countries to pursue prudent and rational capital controls as a shield against capital flight and shock transmission.

Preventing capital flight through effective controls has macroeconomic benefits such as maintaining stability in income, growth, interest rate, exchange rate, and employment levels for the society.

The primary contribution of the study is the analysis of effectiveness of capital controls disaggregated by different asset categories such as debt, equity, FDI, and derivatives using two unique recent data sets for a large sample of Asian economies.

The purpose of the paper is to examine macroeconomic and institutional factors that influence capital flows to low-income sub-Saharan African (SSAn) countries. It analyzes capital flows in a disaggregated manner: foreign divert investment, portfolio equity and portfolio debt. There is a gap in the empirical literature in examining the factors that are important for various types of capital flows to low-income SSAn countries. Low-income SSAn countries attract very low levels of foreign investment compared to other developing economies in the SSAn region and other developing economies and this paper attempts to make a contribution in this area.

This paper examines data on capital flows and that of various push and pull factors. Trends and dynamics of capital inflows and their macroeconomic and institutional drivers are analyzed for low-income sub-Saharan African countries. Such an analysis has not been fully explored for low-income SSAn countries.

Capital inflows to low-income sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have increased sevenfold since the 1990s, dominated by foreign direct investment (FDI). They overtook official development assistance and aid in the 2010s. Mozambique and Ethiopia attract the largest size of FDI compared to other low-income SSAn economies, with natural resources as key factors in the former. The largest share of FDI to low-income SSAn countries comes from other SSAn countries, mostly South Africa and Mauritius. Among macroeconomic push factors, capital inflows are more closely related to commodity prices, while the volatility index and global liquidity are also important. Among macroeconomic pull factors, trade openness and economic growth appear more closely related to capital inflows. The surge in capital inflows in the 2000s also followed the implementation of several regional trade and investment agreements in the region. The improvement in internal conflict in the 1990s and mid-2000s seems to have helped support the increase in capital inflows during that period. This institutional quality variable appears to more closely track capital inflows compared to other institutional quality indicators. There were also improvements in the investment profile, law and order, and government stability in the 1990s to early 2000s when capital inflows picked up.

This study focuses on low-income SSAn countries, which are less studied in the empirical literature and that face immense developmental needs that require foreign and domestic capital.

Findings of this paper can shed light to policy makers on the factors that are most important to help the region attract capital inflows and areas where further improvement is needed in the macroeconomic and institutional environment.

There is a gap in the empirical literature in examining the factors that are important for attracting capital flows to low-income SSAn countries. To our knowledge, this study may be the first to explore dynamics of capital flows against institional quality for low-income SSAn countries at a disaggregated level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore in depth the impact and transmission mechanism of different international capital flows on domestic employment and wages in China within a systematic framework; also to reveal whether the empirical results can confirm the basic model inferences.

Using dynamic economic model and empirical experiment, this study designs and conducts the analysis within a systematic framework. The authors acquire the needed and credible empirical data.

The international capital inflows will increase the average wage level, and the international capital outflows will significantly reduce the level of domestic wages. The unofficially recorded capital flows would appear negatively related to the domestic wages. Due to the complexities of relevant elements, the impact of different international capital flows on domestic employment is of insignificance. It is noteworthy that the impact of international capital flows on the average wage changes of different provinces will tend to converge to a certain extent.

The results have reflected that the capital flows between the different provinces have no obvious frictions and barriers.

The paper explores in depth the impact and transmission mechanism of different international capital flows on domestic employment and wages within a systematic framework. The empirical analysis related to the China different provinces is an exploratory experiment.

Office markets and particularly international financial centres over the past decade have experienced rapid financialisation, developments and indeed changes in the post-global financial crisis (GFC) landscape. Importantly, the volume and types of international capital flows have witnessed more foreign actors and vehicles entering into the investment landscape with the concentration of investment intensifying within key financial centres. This paper examines the interaction of international real estate capital flows in the London, New York and Tokyo office markets between 2007 and 2017.

Using Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data comprising over 5,700 office property transactions equating to $563bn between 2007 and 2017, the direct global capital flows into the London, New York and Tokyo office markets are assessed using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach. Further, Granger causality tests are examined to analyse the short-run interaction of international real estate capital flows into these three major office markets.

By assessing the relativity of internal to external investments in these three central business district (CBD) office markets, differences in market dynamics are highlighted. The London office market is shown to be highly dependent on international flows and the USA, the foremost source of cross-border investment on the global stage. The cointegration and causality analysis indicate that cross-border real estate investment flows in these markets (and financial centres) show both long- and short-run relationships and suggest that the London office market remains more distinct and the most reliant on international capital flows with a wider geographical spread of investment activities and investor types. In the case of New York and Tokyo, these markets appear to be driven by more domestic investment activity and capital seemingly due to subtle factors pertaining to investor home bias, risk aversion and diversification strategies between the markets in the aftermath of the GFC.

Given the importance of the CBD offices in London, New York and Tokyo as an asset class for institutional investors, this paper provides some insights as to their level of connection and the interaction of the international capital flows into these three major cities.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of portfolio equity flows to the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region over the period 1996-2010.

The study uses a sample of 14 SSA countries to estimate the baseline regression through employing the system generalized methods of moment dynamic panel estimation framework. To check the robustness of the estimation results, the study further analyses the data set using the random effects-generalized least squares (EGLS) estimator. The Random effects-generalized least squares estimator is also referred to a the Estimated Generalized least Squares (EGLS) estimator.

The paper finds a significant positive relationship between financial development and portfolio equity flows. Furthermore, while the study surprisingly finds trade openness to have a significant negative relationship, political stability is found to have a significant positive relationship with portfolio equity. To check for the robustness of these results, the authors further analyse the data set using the random EGLS estimator. The result of the EGLS estimator confirms that there is a robust positive relationship between financial development and portfolio equity flows to SSA. However, the results suggest that neither trade openness nor political stability is a robust determinant of portfolio equity flows to the sub-region.

Policy measures should aim at enhancing financial sector development, political stability and rule of law. A transparent judicial system that enhances rule of law and deepens democratic governance in countries in the sub-region is critical, but even more critical is deepening the financial sector, given the important role financial development plays in portfolio equity flows as suggested by the findings. A range of measures and appropriate policy responses are therefore needed for countries that have to manage macroeconomic and financial stability risks to deepen the financial sector.

Most studies on private capital flows to SSA have focussed on foreign direct investment flows with no or scanty evidence on the drivers of portfolio equity flows. This study fills this gap in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants that affect international capital flows (ICF) toward the Spanish real estate market over the period 1995 first quarter to 2017 fourth quarter.

VECM methodology is used to analyze time series and panel methods using pooled EGLS regression.

VECM parameter results for construction and real estate activities sectors, quickly suggesting a stable performance of capital flows toward Spanish real estate sector that the short-term fluctuation of foreign investment results contributes to the long-term equilibrium relatively soon. By applying the Monetary theory of Johnson, the model identifies a relevant role of M3 explaining capital flows to real estate, together with the lagged variables of construction and real estate activities capital flows, Spanish real interest rate and Spain’s economic growth rate; they are the significant determinants on capital movement to Spanish real estate sector. Interestingly, Spanish housing prices as an exogenous variable, directly, significantly and negatively affect real estate capital flows in all cases as a way to capture the assets price bubble.

Findings highlight reasons affecting capital flows to real estate and construction activities to Spanish sectors which allow capital Funds to take into account those drivers in their investment decisions.

This paper is the first attempt to analyze the determinants of ICF to Spanish real estate market; it has a significant meaning for both Spanish economy and international investors.

Relative risk ratings measure the degree by which a country’s sovereign rating is better or worse than other countries (Basu et al., 2013). However, the literature on the impacts of sovereign ratings on capital flows has not covered the role of relative risk ratings. This paper aims to examine the effect of relative risk ratings on private capital flows to emerging and frontier market economies is filled. In the analysis, the effect of relative risk ratings to that of absolute sovereign ratings in influencing private capital flows are compared.

This paper examines the influence of sovereign credit ratings and relative risk ratings on private capital flows to 26 emerging and frontier market economies using quarterly data for a 20-year period between 1998 and 2017. A dynamic panel regression model is used to estimate the relationship between ratings and capital flows after controlling for other factors that can influence capital flows such as growth and interest rate differentials and global risk conditions.

The analysis finds that while absolute sovereign credit ratings were an important determinant of net capital inflows prior to the global financial crisis in 2008, the influence of relative risk ratings increased in the post-crisis period. The post-crisis effect of relative ratings appears to be driven mostly by portfolio flows. The main results are robust to an alternate measure of capital flows (gross capital flows instead of net capital flows), to the use of fixed gross domestic product weights in calculating relative risk ratings and to the potential endogeneity of absolute and relative ratings.

This study advances the literature on being the first attempt to understand the impact of relative risk ratings on capital flows and also comparing the impact of absolute sovereign ratings and relative risk ratings on capital flows in the pre- and post-global financial crisis periods. The findings imply that emerging and frontier markets need to pay greater attention to their relative economic performance and not just their sovereign ratings.

This study aims to examine the effect of various forms of capital flows on financial stability in middle-income countries from 2010 to 2017 using the World Bank economy classifications of 121 economies.

Panel spatial correlation consistent approach was used in this study.

The findings provide convincing evidence that in middle-income countries, capital flows are positive and significant predictors of financial stability and that financial systems in advanced economies are more stable than those of emerging and developing countries. However, outward foreign direct investments are shown to have the largest potential for ensuring financial stability.

Globalization has fostered financial integration of nations, which is manifested in capital flows from lower-income countries to middle-income and upper-income countries and vice versa. These flows can lead to financial instability if not properly controlled. The authors show how the various forms of capital flows affect the financial stability in middle-income countries.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between capital flow surges, reversals and sudden stops.

Emphasizing the importance of looking at the behavior of domestic as well as foreign capital flows, the authors distinguish sudden stops from capital flow reversals by attributing the former to foreign capital flows only.

It is found that, despite the large differences in the number of surges identified by several different measures in the literature, a majority of surges do end in reversals of some type. The percentages tend to be slightly over half for surges in net capital flows, but on average, 70 per cent of gross surges end in sudden stops. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, approximately half of sudden stops and net capital flow reversals are not preceded by surges. It is also found that surges that persist longer are more likely to turn into sudden stops and reversals.

The authors find substantial empirical differences in the characteristics of sudden stops (based on gross foreign flows) and reversals (based on net flows).

Large inflows of financial capital are not always a strong indicator that a country’s economic policies will continue to provide stability in the future. They may signal an increase rather than reduction in the risk of future instability.

This study focuses on an issue that has been less explored to date, the relationship between capital flow surges, reversals and sudden stops. The authors distinguish, redefine and document differences among capital flow reversals and sudden stops. Duration of surges is related to the likelihood of having reversals and sudden stops.