Application
In most traditional theories of international trade, the reasoning for capital account convertibility was so that foreign investors could invest without barriers. Prior to its implementation, foreign investment was hindered by uneven exchange rates due to corrupt officials, local businessmen had no convenient way to handle large cash transactions, and national banks were disassociated from fiscal exchange policy and incurred high costs in supplying hard-currency loans for those few local companies that wished to do business abroad.
Due to the low exchange rates and lower costs associated with Third World nations, this was expected to spur domestic capital, which would lead to welfare gains, and in turn lead to higher GDP growth. The tradeoff for such growth was seen as a lack of sustainable internal GNP growth and a decrease in domestic capital investments.
When CAC is used with the proper restraints, this is exactly what happens. The entire outsourcing movement with jobs and factories going overseas is a direct result of the foreign investment aspect of CAC. The Tarapore Committee's recommendation of tying liquid assets to static assets (i.e., investing in long term government bonds, etc.) was seen by many economists as directly responsible for stabilizing the idea of capital account liberalization.
Read more about this topic: Capital Account Convertibility
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