This paper presents the methodology for the computation of capital flight and reports new estimates of the magnitude and timing of capital flight from 33 sub-Saharan African countries from 1970 to 2004. Our methodology calculates capital flight as the residual difference between inflows and outflows of foreign exchange recorded in the balance of payments, with corrections for the magnitude of e...

Central banks’ foreign exchange holdings have increased significantly in the recent past. This article explains this development as a result of the liberalisation of international capital markets. First, central banks accumulate reserves in order to protect the economy from detrimental effects of sudden stops in capital flows and flow reversals. Second, central banks use the accumulation of res...

This paper reports on trends and levels of capital inflows, and the volatility of such inflows, to a sample of 60 developing countries over the period from 1970 to 1997. The data cover aid and other development finance as the principal forms of official flows, FDI and other private flows, and debt (stock and flows). For each type of inflow to each country, three alternative measures of instabil...

This study empirically examines the causal relationships between foreign aid (ODA) and economic development for India and Sri Lanka using the annual data 1960-61 to 2010-11. Both India and Sri Lanka need to maintain high growth to create more employment opportunity and to reduce poverty. Considering the long run causal linkage among foreign aid, trade performance, financial sector development, ...

Interest rate based tests and savings-investment correlations disagree on the extent of capital mobility in Pacific Rim economies. The apparent success of several East Asian countries in sterilizing capital inflows has also fueled the controversy. This paper argues that previous studies examining money market rates may be misplacing their focus, since most lending is mediated through (sometimes...

We consider a small-open, collateral-constrained AK economy. We show that the combination of CARA preferences and uncertainty on capital inflows in such an economy generates long-term (expected) growth while the deterministic counterpart does not. In this framework, long-term growth is entirely driven by precautionary savings. In particular, we show that the asymptotic growth rate of the expect...

Sudden stops, or large reversals in capital inflows, have been linked to a number of financial crises in emerging market countries. Given their potentially devastating consequences, academics and policymakers have placed great emphasis on analyzing the causes of financial vulnerability. This task has become even more important with increasing financial globalization. A large literature has deve...

This paper develops a simple bank-based analytical framework to explain why and how capital inflow surges and lending booms could lead to higher real interest rates in the domestic economy, even after adjusting for country/currency risk premia and exchange rate changes. While this phenomenon of ever-rising capital inflows and sustained possibly, even widening interest rate spreads is an importa...