Treasurers should expect more whipsawing international flow patterns.
Economists like to view the evaporation of international capital flows during the 2008 financial crisis as a symptom, not a cause, of the distress. Prior to the crisis, capital flows had grown steadily, from 5 percent of world GDP in 2002 to 17 percent in 2007, before collapsing to 1 percent in 2008.