ABSTRACT
This paper discusses two strains of analysis regarding financial openness in developing countries. Mainstream economists argue that openness brings several advantages to these countries if liberalizing reforms have been made in the proper sequence, with liberalization of capital flows as the last reform adopted. The central hypothesis assumed is that the flows are guided by economic fundamentals. An alternative approach, with a post-Keynesian theoretical basis, emphasizes that in the present context of financial globalization and predominance of portfolio flows, capital flows are not guided by fundamentals but by short term perspectives and by factors that are exogenous to the specific country and, thus, can be reverted at any time, with negative impacts on the developing country.
KEYWORDS:
Liberalization; capital flows; globalization