Revista de Economía y Negocios

Capital Account Convertibility in the International Monetary System: A Timeline of Evolving Views and Measurements!

Abstract

Mitali Das

This paper undertakes a review of the measures by which we assess the capital account convertibility of nations. These measures, which are central to understanding the rationales that lead policymakers to recalibrate capital controls and thereby change the convertibility of the capital account, have themselves evolved over time. The paper first provides a brief timeline and the shifting views of capital controls in the modern era, beginning at the start of the 20th century, through the interwar period and emerging market crises of the late 1990s, and then documents in detail how the measures used to assess changes to capital controls and convertibility have changed along with them.