IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/oec/ecoaaa/415-en.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Structural Policy Reforms and External Imbalances

Author

Listed:
  • Mike Kennedy
  • Torsten Sløk

Abstract

It has been argued that one solution to global current account imbalances is for countries with current account surpluses to undertake structural reforms. This would raise their potential growth, which is assumed to put downward pressure on the current account position. This paper takes a closer look at how such structural reforms in labour markets, product markets, and financial markets could be expected to affect current accounts. It also tests empirically, using pooled time-series techniques (that control for the influence of relative cyclical positions, government fiscal balances and the real exchange rate), whether or not reforms in these areas would have any significant relationship with current accounts. The overall finding is that indicators of structural reforms do have a significant relationship with the current account but the contribution of these variables to explain current account positions is quite limited ... Politique de réformes structurelles et balances extérieures Il a été démontré qu’une solution au déséquilibre de la balance des opérations courantes dans les pays ayant un excédant serait d’entreprendre des réformes structurelles. Cela devrait augmenter leur potentiel de croissance, ce qui est supposé soulager la pression sur la situation de la balance des opérations courantes. Cet article examine de près comment de telles réformes structurelles dans les marchés financiers, du travail et de la production sont susceptibles d’influer les comptes courants. Il vérifie aussi empiriquement, au moyen d’un ensemble de séries temporelles techniques (lesquelles contrôlent l’influence des situations conjoncturelles relatives, l’équilibre budgétaire et le taux de changes réèl) si des réformes dans ces secteurs ont une relation significative avec les comptes courants. Il en ressort que ces indicateurs de réformes structurelles ont une relation significative avec les comptes courants, mais que la contribution de ces variables à l'explication de la ...

Suggested Citation

  • Mike Kennedy & Torsten Sløk, 2005. "Structural Policy Reforms and External Imbalances," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 415, OECD Publishing.
  • Handle: RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:415-en
    DOI: 10.1787/874440708453
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1787/874440708453
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1787/874440708453?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. International Monetary Fund, 2010. "Fiscal Policy and the Current Account," IMF Working Papers 2010/121, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Holger Zemanek & Ansgar Belke & Gunther Schnabl, 2010. "Current account balances and structural adjustment in the euro area," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 83-127, May.
    3. Calista Cheung & Davide Furceri & Elena Rusticelli, 2013. "Structural and Cyclical Factors behind Current Account Balances," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 923-944, November.
    4. Allegret, Jean-Pierre & Couharde, Cécile & Coulibaly, Dramane & Mignon, Valérie, 2014. "Current accounts and oil price fluctuations in oil-exporting countries: The role of financial development," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 185-201.
    5. S. Deroose & E. Flores & A. Turrini, 2006. "Proceedings from the ECFIN Workshop "The budgetary implications of structural reforms" - Brussels, 2 December 2005," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 248, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. Baas, Timo & Belke, Ansgar, 2014. "Labor Market Reforms and Current Account Imbalances - Beggar-thy-Neighbor Policies in a Currency Union?," Ruhr Economic Papers 505, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    7. S M Ali Abbas & Jacques Bouhga-Hagbe & Antonio Fatás & Paolo Mauro & Ricardo C Velloso, 2011. "Fiscal Policy and the Current Account," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 59(4), pages 603-629, November.
    8. Clovis Kerdrain & Isabell Koske & Isabelle Wanner, 2010. "The Impact of Structural Policies on Saving, Investment and Current Accounts," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 815, OECD Publishing.
    9. Romain Duval & Jørgen Elmeskov, 2005. "The Effects of EMU on Structural Reforms in Labour and Product Markets," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 438, OECD Publishing.
    10. Clovis Kerdrain & Isabell Koske & Isabelle Wanner, 2011. "Current Account Imbalances: can Structural Reforms Help to Reduce Them?," OECD Journal: Economic Studies, OECD Publishing, vol. 2011(1), pages 1-44.
    11. repec:zbw:rwirep:0505 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Luiz de Mello & Pier Carlo Padoan & Linda Rousová, 2012. "Are Global Imbalances Sustainable? Shedding Further Light on the Causes of Current Account Reversals," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 489-516, August.
    13. Yasin Baris Altayligil & Murat Çetrez, 2020. "Macroeconomic, institutional and financial determinants of current account balances: a panel data assessment," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, December.
    14. Douglas Sutherland & Peter Hoeller, 2014. "Growth Policies and Macroeconomic Stability," OECD Economic Policy Papers 8, OECD Publishing.
    15. Timo Baas & Ansgar Belke, 2014. "Labor Market Reforms and Current Account Imbalances - Beggar-thy-Neighbor Policies in a Currency Union?," Ruhr Economic Papers 0505, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    16. António Afonso & Philemon Kwame Opoku, 2018. "The Relationship between Fiscal and Current Account Imbalances in OECD Economies," Working Papers REM 2018/61, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    17. Mr. Alexander Culiuc & Ms. Annette J Kyobe, 2017. "Structural Reforms and External Rebalancing," IMF Working Papers 2017/182, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    balance des opérations courantes; current account; réforme structurelle; structural reforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:415-en. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/edoecfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.