^*Martin Schindler is an economist in the Research Department of the IMF. The author gratefully acknowledges the contributions by Lore Aguilar during the initial stages of this project. An early version of the data was used in Dell'Ariccia and others (2008)—all collaborators on that project also contributed in some form to the data effort presented here. The author also benefited from discussions with Enrica Detragiache, Peter Blair Henry, Ayhan Kose, Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, Jacques Miniane, Eswar Prasad, Dennis Quinn, and Frank Warnock. Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti and Dennis Quinn kindly provided their updated data sets. Patricio Valenzuela and Ermal Hitaj provided outstanding research assistance. The data set described in this paper can be downloaded from the IMF Staff Papers website.

Abstract

This paper describes a newly constructed panel data set containing measures of de jure restrictions on cross-border financial transactions for 91 countries from 1995 to 2005. The new data set adds value to existing capital control indices by providing information at a more disaggregated level. This structure allows for the construction of various subindices, including those for individual asset categories, for inflows vs. outflows, and for residents vs. nonresidents. Disaggregations of this kind open up new ways to address questions of interest in the field of international finance. Some potential research avenues are outlined.