"The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policy responses triggered a historically large wave of capital reallocation between markets, asset classes, and industries. This column uses high-frequency data to show that capital market dynamics were not exclusively driven by undiscriminating global factors. Instead, the degree of the spread of the virus, the stringency of the lockdown, and the fiscal policy response played key roles in explaining the wide heterogeneity in international portfolio flows across countries, particularly for emerging markets."

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