Capital flight in context: an approach to Argentine specificity

Abstract

The so-called “capital flight” has occupied a prominent place in Argentine economic research in recent decades, which is not surprising considering the particular intensity that the formation of foreign assets has acquired in this country since the mid-1970s. And its close relationship with the external debt crises. However, the term “capital flight” is a polysemic and controversial notion. Financial movements are common among all nation states as a whole, and understanding their nature requires some contextualization. This paper seeks to problematize this concept, showing that the formation of external assets must be evaluated within the framework of the modes of integration of national economic systems in the global order and their consequent results. In this line, the specificity of capital flight verified in argentina between 1990 and 2019 is analyzed, in relation to its peripheral condition.