This thesis examines the empirical impact of financial liberalisation on the performance of the Turkish economy over the period 1963–95. In particular, the effect of financial liberalisation on domestic savings and investment, the demand for money and the rate of economic growth are examined.

The dissertation investigates the effects of real exchange rate undervaluations upon long-run economic growth and development and focuses on three issues. Rodrik (2008) claims that weak institutions hurt the development of the tradable sector more than that of the nontradable sector and that undervaluation can foster growth by diminishing the distortion created by weak institutions between the two sectors. Using the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) dataset on four components of institutional quality, Chapter One of my dissertation examines the effects of investment profile, law and order, corruption, and bureaucratic quality upon the relative development of the tradable sector to the nontradable sector, which is measured by the ratio of industry value added to services valued added. On the basis of comparison of the two sectors, the panel evidence of 131 countries indicates that none of the four components mentioned above is positively associated with the relative development of the tradable sector to the nontradable sector. That is, the tradable sector does not suffer disproportionately (compared to the nontradable sector) from institutional weaknesses. Our results cast skepticism upon one of Rodrik's explanations on the growth-promoting effects of real undervaluation because the existence of such a distortion is not supported empirically. Chapter Two concentrates on the effect of real undervaluations on one key aspect of economic development, the income distribution. Based upon the recent availability of an undervaluation index and two databases on Gini coefficients, this study investigates how real undervaluations affect levels and changes in income inequality. The panel evidence of 136 countries indicates that real undervaluations are associated with a decline in levels of income inequality but have no significant association with changes in income inequality. Therefore, the relationship between real undervaluations and levels of income inequality is likely to stem from reverse causality. My main findings may help policymakers who attempt to use an undervaluation policy fully realize that real undervaluations will not hurt the distribution of income. Moreover, I also revisit Rodrik's growth regressions so as to investigate whether or not the same positive association between real undervaluations and economic growth held in Rodrik (2008) reoccurs in my sample. The results are somewhat mixed, depending upon which dataset is employed. Motivated by two distinct characteristics in economic performance of East Asia and Latin America in the past half century, Chapter Three explores the possibility that the difference in levels of domestic savings is one of the historical reasons that countries pursued different exchange rate policies. My panel evidence is somewhat mixed. The results based on the sample of all countries are consistent with the theoretical claim that real undervaluations can mitigate more imbalances and stimulate higher growth when the level of domestic savings is high. However, for the sample of developing countries, the results indicate that initial level of domestic savings does not matter for the growth-promoting effect of real undervaluation. On the contrary, it does matter across developed countries where internal imbalances are supposed to be less common relative to developing countries. This study suggests that more theoretical and empirical investigation is necessary in the future to disclose further the mechanism through which real undervaluations boost long-run growth.

This research explores the impact of various forms of capital flows on economic growth and development for a group of 120 countries from 1980-2007. Traditional growth literature as well as the textbook theory of economic growth looks at capital flows as playing a vital role in fostering economic growth and development. The textbook theories, as well as the existing approaches to study the capital flows and economic development connection, use growth and development interchangeably. This analysis, examines the consequences of different capital flows on growth and development separately because the determinants of growth may not be the same as the determinants of development. This distinction becomes even more applicable when observing the cases of countries that have experienced economic growth during certain periods but were unable to translate the increase in economic growth to development. To investigate the impact of various forms of capital flows, this dissertation utilizes life expectancy in addition to economic growth, as a measure of development. The results from using the two measures show that capital flows have dissimilar impact on life expectancy as well as economic growth. The central proposition of this dissertation is that not all forms of capital flows are created equal. Furthermore, countries at different levels of development may differ in their absorptive capacity of the capital. Thus, the ability of a country to harness capital for development depends upon its absorptive capacity, presence of domestic resources and the capabilities of national governments. This study therefore not only looks at the role played by various forms of capital flows on growth and development, but also takes into account the role of political performance of national governments that can play an important role in maximizing the efficiency of the investments. To investigate what kinds of flows are beneficial at different levels of development, this analysis further divides the dataset into three samples of developed countries, emerging markets and less developed countries. The results indicate that the impact of different capital flows varies across the three subsamples. By categorizing capital flows into categories of international capital flows, domestic capital, and remittances, this research also finds that the type of investment, as well as the source of investment (foreign vs. domestic), indeed does matter. The analysis suggests that the key to harnessing capital for development lies with capable governments and efficient use of domestic resources. In absence of capable governments, influx of foreign capital flows can manifest itself in ways that are harmful to the progress of developing societies.

This study investigated how the replacement of domestic savings by foreign savings for appreciation of exchange rates influenced the Brazilian economic growth from 1995 to 2012. After implementing the Real Plan, Brazil adopted a stabilization and growth strategy based on a wide use of foreign capital. At first, this strategy controlled the exchange rates in appreciated levels and contributed to the convergence of domestic and foreign prices. Nonetheless, it contributed, over time, to a loss of competitiveness of national industry, an increase of the federal debt and an excessive dependence on foreign savings. The conventional theory states that foreign savings may supplement insufficient domestic savings in order to increase investments in a country. However, econometric analyses with an error correction mechanism were performed, showing that the Brazilian domestic savings were negatively affected by the federal debt and foreign savings. Furthermore, they also showed that the GDP was negatively impacted by the exchange rate appreciation during the study period. Therefore, the results demonstrated that the reduction of external dependence is necessary to reduce the interest rates, avoid the substitution of savings and make more domestic resources available for investment. Additionally, they showed that depreciations on the exchange rates can contribute to a long term Brazilian economic growth. / O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de investigar o impacto do uso da poupança externa na substituição da poupança interna e na apreciação da taxa de câmbio, bem como a influência dessas variáveis sobre o crescimento econômico brasileiro entre 1995 e 2012. O Brasil, após a implantação do plano real, adotou uma estratégia de estabilização e crescimento pautados na larga utilização de capitais estrangeiros. Isso, apesar de contribuir, em um primeiro momento, para controle da taxa de câmbio em níveis apreciados e para a convergência dos preços internos com os externos, contribuiu, ao longo do tempo, para o desenvolvimento de uma excessiva dependência da poupança externa, perda de competitividade da indústria nacional e aumento da dívida pública federal. A teoria convencional diz que a insuficiente poupança interna em um país pode ser complementada pela poupança externa, a fim de alavancar os investimentos. No entanto, as análises econométricas realizadas com mecanismo de correção de erros demonstraram que a poupança interna brasileira foi impactada negativamente pela poupança externa e pela dívida pública federal. Não obstante, o PIB, no período estudado, foi influenciado negativamente pela tendência de apreciação cambial. Portanto, os resultados direcionam para a necessidade da diminuição da dependência externa, a fim de permitir redução da taxa de juros, evitar a substituição entre as poupanças e permitir maior disponibilidade de recursos domésticos para investimento. Adicionalmente, demonstram que depreciações na taxa de câmbio são capazes de contribuir para o crescimento econômico brasileiro de longo prazo.