A Solution to Two Paradoxes of International Capital Flows

Jiandong Ju and Shang-Jin Wei

No 5981, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: International capital flows from rich to poor countries can be regarded as either too small (the Lucas paradox in a one-sector model) or too large (when compared with the logic of factor price equalization in a two-sector model). To resolve the paradoxes, we introduce a non-neo-classical model which features financial contracts and firm heterogeneity. In our model, free trade in goods does not imply equal returns to capital across countries. In addition, rich patterns of gross capital flows emerge as a function of financial and property rights institutions. A poor country with an inefficient financial system may simultaneously experience an outflow of financial capital but an inflow of FDI, resulting in a small net flow. In comparison, a country with a low capital-to-labor ratio but a high risk of expropriation may experience outflow of financial capital without compensating inflow of FDI.

Keywords: capital bypass circulation; expropriation risk; financial development; gross capital flow; heterogeneous entrepreneurs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F11 F21 F33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cba and nep-int
Date: Written
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Related works:
Working Paper: A Solution to Two Paradoxes of International Capital Flows (2006)
Working Paper: A Solution to Two Paradoxes of International Capital Flow (2006)
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