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Capital Flows to Developing Countries: The Allocation Puzzle

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Author Info
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
Olivier Jeanne

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Abstract

According to the consensus view in growth and development economics, cross country differences in per-capita income largely reflect differences in countries' total factor productivity. We argue that this view has powerful implications for patterns of capital flows: everything else equal, countries with faster productivity growth should invest more, and attract more foreign capital. We then show that the pattern of net capital flows across developing countries is not consistent with this prediction. If anything, capital seems to flow more to countries that invest and grow less. We argue that this result -- which we call the allocation puzzle -- constitutes an important challenge for economic research, and discuss some possible research avenues to solve the puzzle.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13602.

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Date of creation: Nov 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13602

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
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  2. Chang-Tai Hsieh & Peter J. Klenow, 2007. "Relative Prices and Relative Prosperity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 562-585, June. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Caballero, Ricardo & Farhi, Emmanuel & Gourinchas, Pierre-Olivier, 2006. "An Equilibrium Model of 'Global Imbalances' and Low Interest Rates," CEPR Discussion Papers 5573, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Enrique G. Mendoza & Vincenzo Quadrini & Jose-Victor Rios-Rull, 2007. "Financial Integration, Financial Deepness and Global Imbalances," NBER Working Papers 12909, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Kiminori Matsuyama, 2004. "Financial Market Globalization, Symmetry-Breaking, and Endogenous Inequality of Nations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(3), pages 853-884, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Joshua Aizenman & Brian Pinto & Artur Radziwill, 2004. "Sources for Financing Domestic Capital is Foreign Saving a Viable Option for Developing Countries?," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series 1007, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Douglas Gollin, 2002. "Getting Income Shares Right," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(2), pages 458-474, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Ben S. Bernanke & Refet S. Gurkaynak, 2001. "Is Growth Exogenous? Taking Mankiw, Romer and Weil Seriously," NBER Working Papers 8365, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Kaiji Chen & Ayşe İmrohoroğlu & Selahattin İmrohoroğlu, 2006. "The Japanese Saving Rate," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1850-1858, December. [Downloadable!]
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  22. Philippe Aghion & Diego Comin & Peter Howitt, 2006. "When Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth?," NBER Working Papers 12275, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Sirsha Chatterjee & Kanda Naknoi, 2007. "The Marginal Product of Capital, Capital Flows and Convergence," Purdue University Economics Working Papers 1202, Purdue University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  25. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1990. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 92-96, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Mark Aguiar & Gita Gopinath, 2007. "Emerging Market Business Cycles: The Cycle Is the Trend," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115, pages 69-102. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Stephen L. Parente & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "Barriers to Riches," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262661306, April.
  28. Olivier Jeanne, 2007. "International Reserves in Emerging Market Countries: Too Much of a Good Thing?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 38(2007-1), pages 1-80. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Prakash Kannan, 2008. "Perspectives on High Real Interest Rates in Turkey," IMF Working Papers 08/251, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  2. M. Ayhan Kose & Christopher Otrok & Eswar S. Prasad, 2008. "Global Business Cycles: Convergence or Decoupling?," NBER Working Papers 14292, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Ju, Jiandong & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2007. "Domestic Institutions and the Bypass Effect of Financial Globalization," CEPR Discussion Papers 6343, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Herrmann, Sabine & Winkler, Adalbert, 2008. "Financial markets and the current account – emerging Europe versus emerging Asia," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2008,05, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  5. Mehmet Fatih Ekinci & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Bent Sorensen, 2007. "Financial Integration within EU Countries: The Role of Institutions, Confidence and Trust," NBER Working Papers 13440, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Almuth Scholl, 2009. "Aid Effectiveness and Limited Enforceable Conditionality," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(2), pages 377-391, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Joshua Aizenman & Yi Sun, 2008. "Globalization and the Sustainability of Large Current Account Imbalances: Size Matters," NBER Working Papers 13734, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Kenza Benhima, 2008. "A Reappraisal of the Allocation Puzzle through the Portfolio Approach," EconomiX Working Papers 2008-27, University of Paris West - Nanterre la Défense, EconomiX. [Downloadable!]
  9. Hausmann, Ricardo & Sturzenegger, Federico, 2006. "Global Imbalances or Bad Accounting? The Missing Dark Matter in the Wealth of Nations," Working Paper Series rwp06-003, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
  10. Susan M. Collins, 2006. "Patterns of international capital flows and their implications for economic development : commentary," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 159-167. [Downloadable!]
  11. Christian Saborowski, 2009. "Capital Inflows and the Real Exchange Rate: Can Financial Development Cure the DutchDisease?," IMF Working Papers 09/20, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
  12. Carmen M. Reinhart & Vincent R. Reinhart, 2008. "Capital Flow Bonanzas: An Encompassing View of the Past and Present," NBER Working Papers 14321, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  13. Selen Guerin & Stefano Manzocchi, 2009. "Political regime and FDI from advanced to emerging countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 75-91, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Raghuram Rajan, 2008. "Global Imbalances or why are the Poor Financing the Rich?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 3-24, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Eswar Prasad & Raghuram G. Rajan & Arvind Subramanian, 2006. "Patterns of international capital flows and their implications for economic development," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 119-158. [Downloadable!]
  16. Joshua Aizenman, 2007. "Large Hoarding of International Reserves and the Emerging Global Economic Architecture," NBER Working Papers 13277, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Juan Pablo Medina & Anella Munro & Claudio Soto, 2007. "What Drives the Current Account in Commodity Exporting Countries? The Cases of Chile and New Zealand," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 447, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Guy Meredith, 2007. "Debt Dynamics and Global Imbalances: Some Conventional Views Reconsidered," IMF Working Papers 07/4, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
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