IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/elg/rokejn/v7y2019i4p486-497.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Thirlwall's law, external debt sustainability, and the balance-of-payments-constrained level and growth rates of output

Author

Listed:
  • Gustavo Bhering

    (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

  • Franklin Serrano

    (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

  • Fabio Freitas

    (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Abstract

Thirlwall's law, given by the ratio of the rate of growth of exports to the income elasticity of imports is a key result of balance-of-payments-constrained long-run growth models with balanced trade. Some authors have extended the analysis to incorporate long-run net capital flows. We provide a critical evaluation of these efforts and propose an alternative approach to deal with long-run external debt sustainability, based on two key features. First, we treat the external debt-to-exports ratio as the relevant indicator for the analysis of external debt sustainability. Second, we include an external credit constraint in the form of a maximum acceptable level of this ratio. The main results that emerge are that sustainable long-run capital flows can positively affect the long-run level of output, but not the rate of growth compatible with the balance-of-payments constraint, as exports must ultimately tend to grow at the same rate as imports. Therefore, Thirlwall's law still holds.

Suggested Citation

  • Gustavo Bhering & Franklin Serrano & Fabio Freitas, 2019. "Thirlwall's law, external debt sustainability, and the balance-of-payments-constrained level and growth rates of output," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(4), pages 486-497, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:7:y:2019:i:4:p486-497
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/view/journals/roke/7-4/roke.2019.04.05.xml
    Download Restriction: Restricted access
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas H. W. Ziesemer, 2023. "Semi-endogenous growth in a non-Walrasian DSEM for Brazil: estimation and simulation of changes in foreign income, human capital, R&D, and terms of trade," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 1147-1183, April.
    2. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández & Serena Sordi, 2021. "Thirlwall's law: Binding-constraint or centre-of-gravity? A possible Kaleckian solution," Department of Economics University of Siena 853, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    3. Morlin, Guilherme Spinato, 2022. "Growth led by government expenditure and exports: Public and external debt stability in a supermultiplier model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 586-598.
    4. Musa Esuwa Shingil & Huseyin Ozdeser & Andisheh Saliminezhad, 2022. "Investigation of Balance of Payment Constrained Growth Model: The Impact of Export Growth, Capital Flows, and Real Effective Exchange Rate on Growth of the UK," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    5. Robert A. Blecker, 2022. "New advances and controversies in the framework of balance‐of‐payments‐constrained growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 429-467, April.
    6. Pedrosa, Ítalo & Brochier, Lídia & Freitas, Fabio, 2023. "Debt hierarchy: Autonomous demand composition, growth and indebtedness in a Supermultiplier model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    7. Akeem Rahaman & Scott Mark Romeo Mahadeo, 2024. "Constructing country-specific debt sustainability indices for developing countries," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2024-01, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    8. Dvoskin, Ariel & Torchinsky Landau, Matías, 2023. "Income distribution and economic cycles in an open-economy supermultiplier model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 273-291.
    9. Cruz, Manuel Máximo & Gahn, Santiago José & Morlin, Guilherme Spinato, 2022. "State-owned and multinational enterprises partnership as an import substitution strategy: A narrative ARDL approach to the case of oil contracts in Argentina (1958–1962)," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 213-223.
    10. Ziesemer, Thomas, 2022. "Linking the BOPC growth model with foreign debt dynamics to the goods and labour markets," MERIT Working Papers 2022-029, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    11. Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid & Lorenzo Nalin & Edgar Pérez-Medina, 2022. "External challenges to the economic expansion of emerging markets in the post-COVID 19 and post-COP26 era: A balance-of-payments constrained growth (BPCG) perspective," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 75(303), pages 313-354.
    12. Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid & Lorenzo Nalin & Edgar Perez-Medina, 2023. "Current External Challenges to the Economic Expansion of Emerging Markets," Working Papers Series inetwp201, Institute for New Economic Thinking.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Thirlwall's law; debt sustainability; BoP constraint on growth; Harrod foreigntrade multiplier;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    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:elg:rokejn:v:7:y:2019:i:4:p486-497. 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: Phillip Thompson (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elgaronline.com/roke .

    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.