Nonlinearities arise in international investment because of a pecking order in barriers. Some severe barriers render all others meaningless, and only when they are alleviated do other barriers become important. We show, using quantile regressions designed to model relations at more points than...

While foreigners are prominent in the Treasury market and in theoretical and empirical work, little is known about the nature of their Treasury portfolios. We provide novel evidence on foreigners' U.S. Treasury portfolios based on data not yet used by researchers: the security-level Treasury...

Latin American portfolio inflows show a strong tendency to revert to a natural level, KF*, over medium-run horizons. Deviations of actual flows from KF* provide policymakers with a real-time predictor of future flows, sudden stops and vulnerability to global shocks. Analysis of short-run...

Investors' behavior in U.S. Treasuries - the world's safe asset - affects monetary policy transmission mechanisms, fiscal policy space, loan pricing, and international vulnerabilities. Yet it is not well understood for a simple reason: researchers, not having a clear picture of the Treasury...

It is an established fact that investors favor the familiar--be it domestic securities or, within a country, the securities of nearby firms--and avoid investments that would provide the greatest diversification benefits. While we do not rule out familiarity as an important driver of portfolio...

There are a number of worrisome features of the U.S. current account deficit. In particular, its size and persistence, the extent to which it is financing consumption as opposed to investment, and the reliance on debt inflows raise concerns about the likelihood of a sharp adjustment. We examine...

We put forward the notion that capital flows--specifically, gross portfolio flows--fluctuate around some natural level. Our particular measure of the natural level of capital flows, denoted by KF*, is a theory-based time-varying supply-side factor, much like potential GDP is a theory based time...

Has the occurrence of "extreme capital flow movements"--episodes of sudden surges, stops, flight and retrenchment--changed since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)? This paper addresses this question by updating and building on the dataset and methodology introduced in Forbes and Warnock (2012)...

Counter to extant stylized facts, using newly available data on country allocations in U.S. investors' foreign equity portfolios we find that (i) U.S. investors do not exhibit returns-chasing behavior, but, consistent with partial portfolio rebalancing, tend to sell past winners; and (ii) U.S....

We assess the development of local currency bond markets in emerging market economies (EMEs). Supported by policies and laws that helped to improve macroeconomic stability and creditor rights, many local currency EME bond markets have grown substantially over the past decade and have also...