Cross-Border Listings, Capital Controls, and Equity Flows to Emerging Markets

Abstract:     
We investigate the impact of two types of financial liberalizations on short- and long-horizon capital flows to emerging markets in a framework that controls for push and pull factors. The first type of liberalization, a reduction in capital controls, is countrywide but uncertain, because its extent and permanence is not known with certainty. The second type, a cross-border listing, is a firm-level liberalization that has no uncertainty. Consistent with theoretical predictions, we find that the deterministic cross-listing results in an immediate but short-lived increase in capital inflows. In contrast, the uncertain reduction in capital controls results in increased inflows only over a longer horizon, if at all.

Keywords: Portfolio Equity Flows; Capital Flows; ADRs

JEL Classifications: G11, G15, F3

Working Paper Series