Financial liberalization should reduce borrowing constraints and increase capital demand according to theory. If production functions exhibit capital-skill complementarity, liberalization should increase the aggregate demand for skilled labor relative to unskilled labor, increasing wage inequality in equilibrium. This paper studies the effects of financial liberalization on inequality through t...

Stock market liberalizations lead private investment booms. In a sample of 11 developing countries that liberalized, 9 experience growth rates of private investment above their non-liberalization median in the first year after liberalizing. In the second and third years after liberalization this number is 10 of 11 and 8 of 11 respectively. The mean growth rate of private investment in the three...

We study the investment behavior of foreign investors in association with an equity market liberalization, and find a strong link between foreigners trading and local market returns. In the period following the liberalization, net purchases by foreign investors induced a permanent increase in stock prices, suggesting that local firms reduced their cost of equity capital. We also find a strong l...

This paper examines e¢ cient paths of trade liberalization in a symmetric two country model where countries choose a (cooperative) trade agreement that maximizes national welfare, subject to the constraint that capital initially located in the import-competing sector receive some compensation for losses from liberalization. If lump sum transfers are available to compensate capital owners, free ...

We study a two period representative agent economy in which economic liberalization is modeled as adding a positive random variable to the marginal product of capital. We show liberalization always raises the expected utility of agents. Agents may respond to this by increasing consumption in the ̄rst period. Consequently, consumption in the second period is sometimes smaller than the in the ̄rs...

This paper examines the consequences of capital market liberalization, with special reference to its effects under different exchange rate regimes. Capital market liberalization has not lead to faster growth in developing countries, but has led to greater risks. It describes how International Monetary Fund policies have exacerbated the risks, as a result of the macro-economic response to crises...

Widespread support for capital account liberalization in emerging markets has recently shifted to skepticism and even support for capital controls in certain circumstances. This sea-change in attitudes has been bolstered by the inconclusive macroeconomic evidence on the benefits of capital account liberalization. There are several compelling reasons why it is difficult to measure the aggregate ...

Widespread support for capital account liberalization in emerging markets has recently shifted to skepticism and even support for capital controls in certain circumstances. This sea-change in attitudes has been bolstered by the inconclusive macroeconomic evidence on the benefits of capital account liberalization. There are several compelling reasons why it is difficult to measure the aggregate ...