Adalet and Eichengreen analyze the pre-1970 history of international capital flows and current account reversals, contrasting it with recent experience.

• Position: Conferences - Brief Article

Adalet and Eichengreen analyze the pre-1970 history of international capital flows and current account reversals, contrasting it with recent experience. They find that the incidence of reversals has been unusually great in recent years. The only prior period that matched the last three decades in terms of frequency was the 1920s and 1930s, two decades notorious for the instability of capital flows. In contrast, reversals were less common in the Bretton Woods and pre-World War I gold standard eras. The fact that...