Does capital account liberalisation promote economic growth? Evidence from system estimation

Abstract

This paper proposes a three-equations empirical representation of the channels linking capital account liberalization (CAL) and economic growth. System estimates indicate that CAL determines growth through financial development and openness to trade. The residual effect of CAL on growth after accounting for these two channels is negligible. These results call for a reconsideration of the conclusions on the growth-effect of CAL drawn from single-equation empirical models.