Department of Economics, UCSC

We investigate the relationship between economic growth and lagged internationalcapital flows, disaggregated into FDI, portfolio investment, equity investment, and shorttermdebt. We follow about 100 countries during 1990-2010 when emerging marketsbecame more integrated into the international financial system. We look at therelationship both before and after the global crisis. Our study reveals a complex andmixed picture. The relationship between growth and lagged capital flows depends on thetype of flows, economic structure, and global growth patterns. We find a large and robustrelationship between FDI – both inflows and outflows – and growth. The relationshipbetween growth and equity flows is smaller and less stable. Finally, the relationshipbetween growth and short-term debt is nil before the crisis, and negative during the crisis