When are Capital Controls Effective? Evidence from Malaysia and Thailand

This study examines the impact of capital controls using monthly information to construct higher-frequency, quarterly indexes for Malaysia and Thailand over the period 2000-2010 in a Vector Auto-Regression (VAR) model. The results show that effectiveness of a capital control policy is not identical between Malaysia and Thailand. This could result from country-specific factors, the form of capital controls as well as degree of efficacy, which vary greatly between these two countries. Restrictions in Thailand have no significant effect on inflows but are especially effective for outflows, particularly foreign direct investment. In Malaysia, capital relaxation tends to have a significant impact on inward foreign direct investment and portfolio inflows. However, the results show that changes in capital account policies do not have a significant impact on the real exchange rate in both Malaysia and Thailand.