Capital Flight

Capital flight is what happens when investors and citizens rapidly move their money out of a country, converting local currency into dollars or other assets and sending it abroad, usually because they've lost confidence in that country's economy, currency, or political stability. It tends to be self-reinforcing: the more money that leaves, the weaker the currency gets, which spooks the next round of investors into leaving too. Governments facing serious capital flight sometimes respond with capital controls to slow the outflow, though that response can itself spook investors further.