The Chinn-Ito Financial Openness Index

The Chinn-Ito Index (KAOPEN) measures a country's degree of capital account openness. The index was initially introduced in Chinn and Ito (Journal of Development Economics, 2006). KAOPEN is based on the binary dummy variables that codify the tabulation of restrictions on cross-border financial transactions reported in the IMF's Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER):

• European and North American countries as well as advanced countries in other parts of the world like Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Japan were the most open in 2017 in terms of the capital account.
• A few countries in Africa performed especially well relative to other economies worldwide, including Uganda, Zambia, Botswana.
• 50 countries of 174 countries achieved the highest index value to share the top ranking in 2017.