Capital movements: Chart 3 depicts what many people associate with globalization, sharply increased private capital flows to developing countries during much of the 1990s. It also shows that (a) the increase followed a particularly "dry" period in the 1980s; (b) net official flows of "aid" or development assistance have fallen significantly since the early 1980s; and (c) the composition of private flows has changed dramatically. Direct foreign investment has become the most important category. Both portfolio investment and bank credit rose but they have been more volatile, falling sharply in the wake of the financial crises of the late 1990s.