Impacts of cross-border equity portfolio flow and central bank transparency on financial development: the role of economic freedom and international bonds

We investigate the effects of international equity portfolio diversification and central bank independence on financial development using panel data from 49 countries from 2001 to 2016. We find that international equity portfolio diversification improves financial development. We correspondingly examine potential factors through which international equity portfolio diversification may impact financial development and find that central bank transparency provides an important channel for improving financial development. We further find that the relationship between international equity portfolio diversification and financial development is sensitive to economic freedom. Concerning sequencing, we find that foreign equity and debt flow are complementary to financial system development. Our results are robust to endogeneity using the exogenous shock of the 2008 financial crisis. This study offers new empirical evidence on the relationship between international capital and financial development.