International financial integration allows countries to become net creditors or net debtors with respect to the rest of the world. In this Paper, we show that a small set of fundamentals shifts in relative output levels, the stock of public debt and demographic factors can do much to explain the...

Current capital flows are closely monitored, but surprisingly little is known about the stocks of external assets and liabilities held by various countries, especially in the developing world. This paper constructs estimates of foreign assets and liabilities and their equity and debt...

In recent decades, foreign assets and liabilities in advanced countries have grown rapidly relative to GDP, with the increase in gross cross-holdings far exceeding the size of net positions. Moreover, the portfolio equity and FDI categories have grown in importance relative to international debt...