And annual gross direct investment capital flows (inflows plus 1 outflows) have risen from 1¾ percent of GDP in 1993 to over 6 percent in 1999. The income flows from accumulated direct investments have almost doubled between 1993 and 1999, although it remains a little less than 1¼ percent of GDP.
Finally, the importance of international firms has increased over the same time period and the correlation among the share prices of international firms 2 is somewhat higher than for domestic firms. The global equity correction, in any case, means that negative wealth effects are shared around the world.