L'asymétrie de la balance des paiements et le problème du dollar

[eng] Are the essential factors which account for the disequilibrium between the dollar area and the rest of the world to be found in the economy of the country which shows surplus or in those which show deficit Contra dictory answers demonstrate that those who advocate deflationary measures in deficit countries as remedy for external disequilibrium assume that balance of payment reactions are symetrical whereas those who believe in long term dollar shortage attribute the cause to one or several fundamental asymetrie reactions The symetrie thesis is supported by logic but detailed analysis will show numerous asymetrie possibilities Several are worth looking into after close examination it will be seen that if the explanation of disequi librum through asymetrie behaviour is valid its causes are to be attributed to phenomena which are more fundamental than forces which regulate the balance of payments such as income fluctuations income elasticities the geographical distribution of innovations The real causes of asymetry must be sought in the structural differences between one economy and another rather than in the absence of parallelism between balance of payments reactions to change in prices