Flight Capital as a Portfolio Choice
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Summary:
This paper sets flight capital in the context of portfolio choice, focusing upon the proportion of private wealth that is held abroad. There are large regional differences in this proportion, ranging from 5 percent in South Asia to 40 percent in Africa. We explain cross-country differences in portfolio choice by variables that proxy differences in the risk-adjusted rate of return on capital. We apply the results to four policy questions: how the East Asian crisis affected domestic capital outflows; herd effects; the effect of the IMF-World Bank debt relief initiative for heavily-indebted poor countries (HIPC) on capital repatriation; and why so much of Africa’s private wealth is held outside the continent.
Series:
Working Paper No. 1999/171
Subject:
Balance of payments Capital outflows External debt External position Financial institutions Foreign assets Foreign exchange Real exchange rates Stocks
English
Publication Date:
December 1, 1999
ISBN/ISSN:
9781451858488/1018-5941
Stock No:
WPIEA1711999
Pages:
33
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