The Composition Matters

Download or read book The Composition Matters written by Mr.Hui Tong and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We study whether capital flows affect the degree of credit crunch faced by a country's manufacturing firms during the 2007-09 crisis. Examining 3823 firms in 24 emerging countries, we find that the decline in stock prices was more severe for firms that are intrinsically more dependent on external finance for working capital. The volume of capital flows has no significant effect on the severity of the credit crunch. However, the composition of capital flows matters: pre-crisis exposure to non-FDI capital inflows worsens the credit crunch, while exposure to FDI alleviates the liquidity constraint. Similar results also hold surrounding the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy