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The External Wealth of Nations Mark II Revised and Extended Estimates of Foreign Assets and Liabilities, 1970-2004. Philip R. Lane IIIS, Trinity College Dublin and CEPR Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti IMF, Research Department and CEPR.
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The External Wealth of Nations Mark IIRevised and Extended Estimates of Foreign Assets and Liabilities, 1970-2004 Philip R. Lane IIIS, Trinity College Dublin and CEPR Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti IMF, Research Department and CEPR
Dataset on 145 countries’ external position (assets and liabilities) • Extends and improves the dataset in Lane and Milesi-Ferretti (JIE 2001) • From 67 countries to 145 countries (nearly universal coverage) • Coverage extended to 1970-2004 • Much larger availability of stock estimates from national authorities
Dataset “outputs” • External assets • Portfolio equity • Foreign direct investment • Debt assets • Portfolio debt (for some countries/periods) • Other investment assets (for some countries/periods) • Reserve assets (net of gold) • Financial derivatives (limited coverage)
Dataset “outputs” (II) • External liabilities • Portfolio equity • Foreign direct investment • Debt liabilities • Portfolio debt (for some countries/periods) • Other investment liabilities (for some countries/periods) • Financial derivatives (limited coverage)
Data inputs • International Investment Positions (when reported) • Balance of payments flows • World Bank’s Global Development Finance (external debt) • FDI stocks and flows from UNCTAD • Stock of portfolio equity holdings in the US and by US residents (Warnock) • CPIS Portfolio Survey • BIS locational banking statistics • National sources • Historical data from Sinn (1990) • IMF desks • etc....
Estimation methods • Eclectic... • Stock data, complemented by cumulative capital flows with valuation adjustments • For portfolio equity, valuation reflects stock market prices • For debt, its currency composition • For FDI, international relative prices
Caveats • Substantial degree of uncertainty for estimates • Some offshore centers missing • Large world NFA discrepancy
A sampling of results • The world NFA discrepancy • Trends in international financial integration • Trends in net external positions • Much more in the paper (and the data) on • Gross positions (international financial integration) • Portfolio composition (equity, FDI, debt) • Longer-term trends
The problem of underreporting • The world runs a current account deficit.... • ...and has been doing so for a while..... • ...and has hence accumulated net external liabilities
What do we know about the missing money? • Primarily in the categories • Debt instruments • Portfolio equity
Can we say something about the equity and debt discrepancies? • For portfolio equity, yes. • Use data from • CPIS • Liability surveys • United States • Ireland • Reported aggregate portfolio equity liabilities
Evidence on the portfolio equity discrepancy • At end-2003, • Total assets=US$7.2 trillion • Total liabilities=US$8.3 trillion • Compare reported equity liabilities with those derived from other countries’ reported holdings in the country
Bottom line • “Missing money” likely held in financial centers.... • ...but of course difficult to impute ultimate ownership...
Evidence on international financial integration • Rapid growth in external assets and liabilities • Particularly strong since the mid-1990s • Particularly strong for advanced economies • Increased importance of FDI and portfolio equity. For emerging markets, also • Big reduction in debt to export ratio • Large increase in reserves
Stylized factsI. International financial integration (assets+liabilities/GDP)
Stylized facts (II)II. International financial and trade integration (assets+liabilities/exports+imports)
International equity integration (FDI+portfolio equity) Assets+liabilities/GDP
A perspective on net external positions • Where did we stand at end-2004? • Industrial countries • Developing countries and emerging markets • What are the “global” trends along the time series dimension? • Some regional evidence on NFA during the past decade
Net foreign assets and GDP per capita, 2004(emerging and developing economies)
Concluding remarks • Comprehensive and up-to-date dataset • Key for research on • International financial integration • Risk sharing • Dynamics of global imbalances • New evidence on “NFA discrepancy” • New evidence on global trends in NFA and financial integration