Currently the U.S. is experiencing record budget and current account deficits, a phenomenon familiar from the "Twin Deficits" discussion of the 1980s. In contrast, during the 1990s productivity growth has been identified as the primary cause of the US current account deficit. We suggest a theoretical framework which allows to evaluate empirically the relative importance of budget deficits and productivity shocks for the determination of the current account. Using a sample of 21 OECD countries and time series data from 1960 to 2003 we find little evidence for a contemporaneous effect of budget deficits on the current account, while country-specific productivity shocks appear to play a key role.
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Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number
509.
Find related papers by JEL classification: E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
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José García-Solanes & Jesús Rodríguez López & José Luis Torres Chacón, 2007.
"Demand Shocks and Trade Balance Dynamics,"
Working Papers
07.10, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Departamento de Economía.
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