Effectiveness of Capital Controls: Evidence from Thailand

Abstract

This paper examines the effectiveness of capital account policies in Thailand during the period 1993–2010. Our results show that policies toward capital account liberalization tend to be more effective than those toward capital account restriction in changing the volume of capital flows. The composition of capital flows also matters for the effectiveness of policy measures. When capital restrictions were introduced in the late 2000s, our results show that there was a switching effect from more capital restricted asset classes toward less restricted ones. This study also finds that the central bank did not gain more monetary autonomy from introducing capital inflow restrictions. However, such restrictions, both inflows and outflows (liability side), could help limit the fluctuations in the nominal exchange rate, especially relative to the US dollar in 2000–2010.

Keywords: capital flows, capital controls, financial integration, Asia

JEL Classification: F21, F32, F36, F41, G15