Capital Inflows into Latin America: A Stop-Go Story?

Abstract

This paper deals with Latin America's experience with capital flows during the last decade and a half. It concentrates on a number of issues of increasing interest among academics and international observers, including the effect of capital inflows on domestic savings, the way in which capital mobility affects the ability to engage in independent monetary policy, and the effectiveness of capital controls. It also addresses a number of policy dilemmas that have become topical in light of the recent East Asian currency crises, including questions related to capital account sustainability, the role of domestic banks in the intermediation of capital inflows, and the feasibility of fixed nominal exchange rates in a world of capital mobility. Latin America's experience with capital mobility should provide insights to scholars interested in other regions of the world. Indeed, during the last few years the Latin American countries have been a laboratory of sorts, where almost every possible approach towards capital mobility has been tried.