Off the leash : understanding the dynamics of capital mobility in IPE

In this paper I seek to extend much of the writing on capital mobility to be found in the IPE literature by arguing that there are two distinct types of mobility which need to be treated as analytically separable. The tendency in IPE is to think only in terms of ‘international’ capital mobility, which immediately creates the impression that for capital to be mobile it has to move from one country to another. This image conforms to what I call the spatial mobility of capital. However, capital should also be thought of as mobile in those instances in which it is deliberately reinvested in an alternative financial instrument. This is what I call the functional mobility of capital. Recent increases in capital mobility are linked to the institutionalisation of rentier interests within the financial economy, with subsequent implications for the distribution of life chances globally. In order to gain a full understanding of these implications it is necessary to be working with a perspective that recognises the dynamics of both the spatial and the functional mobility of capital

When Liberal Policies Reflect External Shocks, What Do We Learn?

We present a model where policies of free capital mobility can signal governments' future policies, but the informativeness of the signal depends on the path of world interest rates. Capital flows to emerging markets reflect investors' perception of these markets' political risk. With low world interest rates, emerging markets experience a capital inflow and engage in a widespread policy of free capital mobility; with higher rates, only sufficiently committed countries allow free capital mobility, whereas others impose controls to trap capital onshore, thus signaling future policies affecting capital mobility. These predictions are consistent with the recent experience of capital flows and policies affecting capital mobility in developing countries.

Regional Capital Mobility in China: 1978-2006

We examine cross-region capital mobility in China and track how the degree of mobility has changed over time. The effects of fiscal and redistributive activities of different levels of government in China on private capital mobility are taken into account. Our results indicate that there was a significant improvement in capital mobility over time in China, particularly for private capital in the more developed regions. The central and provincial governments, via their taxation, spending, and transfers, loosen the relationship between private saving and investment and appear to promote capital mobility, particularly for less developed regions. There are considerable differences between more and less developed regions in terms of the degree of capital market integration and the improvement in capital mobility over time. The results have important policy implications on global re-balancing as well as regional development gap and risk-sharing within China.Feldstein-Horioka; Chinese cross-region capital mobility; saving-investment relationship; Chinese capital market integration

Rethinking the Economics of Capital Mobility and Capital Controls

This Working Paper reexamines the issue of international financial capital mobility, which has become today’s economic orthodoxy. The policy discussion is often framed in terms of the impossible trinity. That framing distorts discussion by representing capital mobility as having equal significance with sovereign monetary policy and control over exchange rates. It also distorts discussion by ignoring possibilities for coordinated monetary policy and exchange rates, and for managed capital flows. The case for capital mobility rests on neo-classical economic efficiency arguments and neo-liberal political arguments. The case against capital mobility is based on Keynesian macroeconomic inefficiency arguments, neo-Walrasian market failure arguments, and neo-Marxian arguments regarding distortion of the social structure of accumulation. Close examination shows the case for capital mobility to be extremely flimsy. That points to the ideological dimension behind today’s policy orthodoxy.capital mobility, capital controls, impossible trinity

Capital Mobility for Developing Countries May Not Be So High

International capital flows to developing countries have taken on considerable policy importance in recent years. There is disagreement, however, about whether financial capital mobility has become so high that developing countries have little ability to sterilize capital flows. This paper reviews several popular methods of estimating the degree of capital mobility for developing countries and shows that they are subject to potentially important upward biases due to inappropriate assumptions concerning the roles of domestic inflation and sterilization. Corrections for these factors can cut estimates of capital mobility by one half or more.sterilization; capital mobility; developing countries

L’Intégration Européenne et la Soutenabilité Externe de l’Union Européenne: une application de la thèse de Feldstein-Horioka

The Feldstein-Horioka thesis was considered one of the greatest puzzles in economics. Born to measure international capital mobility, has known a process of immunisation to be conformed to empirical evidence and respect econometric knowledge. We apply to EU countries a formulation of the thesis which is adequate to test external sustainability and international capital mobility. Applying appropriate methods we conclude for the external sustainability of enlarged Europe as well as for high level of capital mobility. The capital mobility is more important for the old EU than for the enlarged one.Feldstein-Horioka, Mobilité du Capital, Épargne, Investissement, Contrainte extérieure

Residential Mobility and Social Capital

This paper empirically investigates the role of social capital in households’residential mobility behavior by considering its spatial dimension. This study focuses on a household’s social ties with people living nearby, which we refer to as its “local social capital”. Local social capital may deter residential mobility, because the resources stemming from them are location-specific and will be less valuable if a household moves. We conjecture that a household’s possession of local social capital has a negative effect on its residential mobility, and this negative effect of local social capital may be stronger on long-distance mobility than on short-distance mobility. Our empirical investigation is based on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We obtain evidence which is supportive of these conjectures.

International Capital Mobility and Factor Reallocation in a Multisector Economy

This paper examines the effects of international capital flows in a small open econ omy utilizing a dynamic general equilibrium framework based on a three-sector Ramsey growth model. In order to analyze the impact of international capital mobility on production, consumption and allocation of resources across three sectors ,two different economic environments are modelled. The first model represents an open economy with capital mobility (a more comprehensive environment),and the second model introduces a closed economy with no capital mobility. Numerical applications of the models use data from the Turkish economy for the year 2002. The numerical results demonstrate that the presence of capital mobility, despite being limited by a borrowing constraint, reverses the impact of economic growth on production and resource allocation. The results also show that while production in the closed economy model simply adjusts to domestic demand, that of the open economy model is not constrained by it. Results further point that although there is positive growth in income and output in both environments, income growth in the capital mobility environment falls short of that in the no capital mobility environment. This result can be attributed to the relatively slower accumulation of capi tal in the former, which may be compensated by a positive rate of technological progress to accompany international capital flows.International Capital Flows,Human Capital, Multisector economy,Borrowing Constraint

Capital mobility, balance of payments constraints, and economic growth: an empirical dynamic analysis

This paper analyses empirically the relationship between economic growth and the openness of the financial account of the balance of payments. It takes into consideration the balance of payments’ constrained growth, as well as the difficulties in the empirical literature in measuring capital mobility. Starting from the capital mobility index we estimate a panel across 80 countries, both developed and developing between 1997-2003. Results suggest that more capital mobility in developing countries affects growth negatively, whereas it possibly stimulates growth in developed countries.Economic Growth, Capital Mobility, Dynamic Panel

Capital Mobility within EMU

Capital mobility is helpful to cope with the loss of adjustment instruments in EMU. High capital mobility in the sense of Feldstein and Horioka (FH) can limit the negative consequences of shocks affecting the saving capacity of an economy in the Eurozone. It is the aim of this paper to assess the likely degree of capital mobility in the FH sense within EMU. For this purpose, the FH approach is extended and updated. In particular, the role of current account targeting, exchange rate volatility and tax differentials as potential obstacles to capital mobility is analyzed. The empirical findings support the view that both current account targeting and exchange rate volatility were relevant for limiting the free flow of capital in the past. The conclusion is that within EMU domestic saving and investment will be less correlated than they were before the advent of the Euro. --Capital Mobility,European Monetary Union,Investment-Saving-Relation