Microeconomic effects of capital controls:: The Chilean experience during the 1990s

This paper provides empirical evidence on some of the microeconomic effects of the capital controls introduced in Chile during the 1990s, in particular, the unremunerated reserve requirement (URR). By looking at financial statements for a group of 73 Chilean firms during 1986-2001, the paper attempts to identify the effects of the URR on the firms' costs and ways of financing. Results show that the effects of the URR are firm specific; for instance, there are striking differences in the response to the URR among firms of different size and those with or without access to international capital markets. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.