Capital Flows and Growth in Developing Countries: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

This paper unravels the capital flow-growth nexus by employing a model that incorporates contemporaneous influences and contemporaneous expectations. Using an unbalanced panel data set, the paper considers and highlights the role of indirect effects, through the spillover or interaction channel, in influencing economic development. Rigorous tests—incorporating tertiary education, alternative capital flow types and an interaction term—confirm the hypothesis that private capital flows are growth promoting in general, and upper middle-income countries appear to gain more from such flows than low-income countries.