A dynamic stochastic model of global equilibrium, where countries outside the US face higher risk than the US itself, predicts current account surpluses in the RoW and US deficits. With Loss Aversion, such precautionary savings can cause substantial ‘global imbalances’, particularly if there is an inefficient supply of global ‘insurance’. In principle, lower real interest rates will ensure aggregate demand equals supply at a global level (though the required real interest may be negative). Low interest rates and high savings outside the US appear to be an efficient global equilibrium: but is this sustainable? A precautionary savings glut appears to us to be a temporary phenomenon, destined for correction as and when adequate reserve levels are achieved. But if the process of correction is triggered by ‘Sudden Stop’ on capital flows to the US, might it not lead to the inefficient outcomes forecast by several leading macroeconomists? When precautionary saving is combined with financial panic, history offers no guarantee of full employment.
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Paper provided by ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, Birkbeck, University of London in its series WEF Working Papers with number
0014.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies D52 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Incomplete Markets E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
David Backus & Bryan Routledge & Stanley Zin, 2004.
"Exotic Preferences for Macroeconomists,"
Working Papers
04-20, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
David K. Backus & Bryan R. Routledge & Stanley E. Zin, 2005.
"Exotic Preferences for Macroeconomists,"
NBER Chapters,
in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2004, Volume 19, pages 319-414
National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
[Downloadable!]