美国储蓄不足和全球储蓄过剩是美国贸易逆差产生的根本原因

美国贸易逆差以及主要由贸易逆差造成的经常帐户赤字已成为世界经济关注的热点问题。对美国贸易逆差产生原因的解释众多,本文以主流经济学分析框架得出美国储蓄不足是美国贸易逆差的根本原因的结论。美国国内储蓄不足导致外国资本的流入。外国资本一方面为美国提供了购买力,补充了美国的储蓄,另一方面,美国可用外国提供的购买力进口产品,满足自己的需求。美国的贸易逆差是其储蓄不足的结果。从全球视角出发,其他国家的储蓄增加,为美国补充了储蓄,为美国贸易逆差的产生提供了外部条件。认识美国贸易逆差产生的原因,可以更有利地支撑美国贸易逆差与中国对其贸易顺差没有根本联系的观点,及人民币汇率问题不是美国贸易逆差根本原因的观点。     

Twin deficit or twin divergence? Fiscal policy, current account, and real exchange rate in the U.S.

In spite of concerns about “twin deficits” (fiscal and the current account deficits) for the United States economy, empirical evidence suggests that “twin divergence” is a more usual feature of the historical data, i.e., when fiscal accounts worsen, the current account improves and vice versa. This paper empirically studies the effects of fiscal policy (government budget deficit shocks) on the current account and the real exchange rate, during the flexible exchange rate regime period. Based on VAR (Vector Auto-Regression) models, we identified “exogenous” fiscal policy shocks after controlling for business cycle effects on fiscal balances. In contrast to the predictions of most theoretical models, the U.S. results suggest that an expansionary fiscal policy shock, or a government budget deficit shock, improve the current account and depreciate the real exchange rate. Increases in private savings and declines in investment contribute to the current account improvement while a nominal exchange rate depreciation, as opposed to a relative price level change, is mainly responsible for the real exchange rate depreciation. The “twin divergence” of fiscal balances and current account balances is also explained by the prevalence of output shocks, i.e. output shocks — more than fiscal shocks — appear to drive the co-movements of the current account and the fiscal balance.     

美国国际收支结构的特征、趋势分析及对中国的启示

美国日益增长的经常项目赤字和庞大的净对外债务已经成为影响世界经济的一个不确定因素。长期来看,以亚洲国家为外围主体为美国经常项目赤字融资这一复活的布雷顿森林体系难以长久存在,因而以“逆差+顺差”为特点的美国国际收支结构是很难持续的,美国的经常项目很可能会经历一次趋向平衡的调整过程。同时指出了中国对美国经常项目调整可能给中国经济发展带来冲击的应对措施。     

Current account sustainability in G7 and BRICS: Evidence from a long-memory model with structural breaks

In this paper, we extend the existing literature on current account sustainability by examining the relevance of long memory and structural breaks in modelling the dynamics of current account to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios in G7 and BRICS. Unlike standard unit root tests, which have low power, especially in cases where the series is characterized by a fractional process, the long-memory approach provides an exact measure of the degree of persistence. However, long-memory models are known to overestimate the degree of persistence of the series in the presence of structural breaks. We show that regime changes do exist in both the mean and trend of the current account to GDP ratios. Thus, we test persistence allowing for both smooth and sharp breaks. Our methodology also allows any number of sharp breaks, whereas standard unit root tests only permit either one or two breaks. Hence, our approach is more general and more robust to misspecifications caused by the omission of breaks than standard methods. We show that current accounts are sustainable in both groups of countries, with the G7 and South Africa displaying long-memory behaviour.     

全球经常项目失衡的实证研究

理论研究者和相关政策文献的建议者在分析影响全球经常项目失衡的各种经济变量时提出了不同的观点。本文利用全球范围内52个国家或地区1980年到2004年的经济数据对影响经常项目失衡的多种经济因素进行了实证研究,力图对当前解释全球经常项目失衡原因的各种观点进行实证检验,并结合实证研究结果提出解决当前全球经常项目失衡问题的相关政策建议。     

On the employment, investment and current account effects of inflation

The effects of inflation targets are examined for a small open economy with cash in advance constraints. An increase in the inflation rate, by increasing the price of consumption relative to leisure, reduces consumption and labor supply. The fall in labor reduces the marginal productivity of capital, and a fall in investment. The country runs a current account surplus, despite the fall in output. The dynamics of the model for permanent and temporary policy changes are fully worked out, with the aid of a diagrammatic apparatus. Quantitative analysis of the model reveals substantial impact and steady state effects.     

区域贸易协定的缔结降低了成员国的反倾销威胁吗——以中国为例

采用1999-2009年跨国面板数据,研究了中国缔结的几个区域贸易协定(RTAs)对成员国间反倾销的影响。结果表明,区域贸易协定的缔结强化了缔约国对其他成员国的反倾销申诉。由于与协定成员国的贸易结构相似、产品结构相同,区域贸易协定的缔结使得中国相对于其他成员国更容易遭遇缔约国的反倾销申诉。文章同时研究了经常项目收支状况、汇率以及GDP增长率对反倾销申诉的影响,结果表明:经常项目收支逆差、货币升值往往会加剧反倾销申诉,而GDP增长率对反倾销申诉无显著影响。本文的研究对于理解中国遭受反倾销的原因以及做好反倾销预警与应对机制具有一定的现实意义。     

我国经常项目收支平衡与经济增长——基于BPCG模型的实证分析

20世纪90年代初以来,我国经常项目中商品贸易持续顺差,服务贸易和投资收益账户却连年逆差,这种结构不利于我国经济的持续稳定增长。本文应用国际收支约束下经济增长模型(BPCG)及其扩展形式,实证分析了1982-2005年间我国经常项目平衡约束下的经济增长率、商品贸易收支平衡约束下的经济增长率与实际增长率之间的差异,结论为经常项目平衡约束下的经济增长率比商品贸易收支平衡约束下的经济增长率要低0.5-1个百分点。     

Current account sustainability in Latin America

This paper examines the sustainability of the current account deficit in eighteen Latin American countries through the analysis of the stationarity properties of the current account balance. First, we apply traditional unit root tests and consider the possibility of structural breaks. Second, since the current account may have a nonlinear behaviour, we test for linearity in the data and analyse current account stationarity by means of a recently developed nonlinear unit root test. Results from linear and nonlinear unit root tests show that current account sustainability is supported for the majority of Latin American countries with the exception of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. For the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela the current account dynamics are best described by a stationary linear model, and by a stationary linear model with a mean shift in years 2003, 1982 and 1980 in Bolivia, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, respectively. In the case of Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala, results show that the current account is best described by a mean-reverting nonlinear process.     

Semi-parametric predictions of the intertemporal approach to the current account

This paper uses the method dynamic programming (DP) by GMM and Canadian data to estimate a dynamic model of a small-open economy. DP by GMM has several appealing features: it does not impose certainty equivalence, it accommodates multiple shocks and imposes few restrictions on the properties of the shocks in the model. Also, since it uses the actual shocks series to estimate approximate decision rules, it produces sample paths for the endogenous variables in the model. The model estimated fits the data well. In particular, the variance of the predicted trade balance-output ratio matches its empirical counterpart.     

Macroeconomic interdependence under incomplete markets

This paper uses a two-country, flexible-price model with overlapping generations of infinitely lived households to study the role of net foreign asset dynamics in the propagation of productivity shocks. Absence of Ricardian equivalence ensures existence of a unique steady-state level of net foreign assets, to which the economy returns following temporary shocks. Model dynamics are significantly different from those of a setup in which terms of trade movements perform all the international adjustment and net foreign assets do not move. The difference relative to a complete markets economy in which net foreign asset movements play no role in shock transmission is smaller. It is amplified if the substitutability across goods rises and if shocks are permanent.     

The Current Account – Interest Rate Relation as a Nonlinear Phenomenon

The current account?–?interest rate relationship has been extensively investigated, but always assuming that it is linear. In this paper we examine the linearity versus nonlinearity issue with reference to this relationship in 11 OECD countries, and find overwhelming evidence in favour of nonlinearity. After testing alternative nonlinear specifications, we estimate a smooth transition regression model and a nonlinear VAR model. Finally, we provide a study of the innovation response analysis that shows adjustment behaviours of the two variables. The implications of the results are discussed.     

服务贸易对美国经常账户赤字的影响——基于豪斯克-麦奇收入不对称效应的验证

本文尝试构建一个基于H-M效应的模型,分析H-M效应对美国经常账户赤字变化的影响机制。并就该模型对美国经常账户赤字变化的解释能力进行验证,结果表明H-M效应对美国经常账户赤字的变化趋势具有较好的解释力。在此基础上,本文应用1986-2005年的数据分别估算了美国商品和服务品进出口收入弹性系数。估算结果显示,与商品进出口收入弹性系数相反,美国服务出口的收入弹性系数大于进口的收入弹性系数。为了探讨服务贸易对美国经常账户赤字的影响,应用基于H-M效应的模型分析美国服务贸易的发展对其经常账户赤字变化的影响。     

美国经常项目赤字的可持续性研究

近年来,美国巨额经常项目赤字和美元持续贬值引起了经济学界的强烈关注,一些经济学家发出了美元和国际货币体系崩溃的警告。在现行国际货币体系即以资产为本位的泛布雷顿森林体系下,中心国家美国和外围亚洲国家形成了双赢的局面。该体系与布雷顿森林体系相比具有更大的安全性和稳定性,美国能够承受更大规模的经常项目赤字,并由此获得了更为灵活的政策操作空间。在某种程度上,美国巨额经常项目赤字是其雄厚的金融和经济实力的体现。     

Medium-term determinants of current accounts in industrial and developing countries: an empirical exploration

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the medium-term determinants of current accounts for a large sample of industrial and developing countries, utilizing an approach that highlights macroeconomic determinants of longer-term saving and investment balances. Cross-section and panel regression techniques are used to characterize the variation of the current account across countries and over time. We find that current account balances are positively correlated with government budget balances and initial stocks of net foreign assets. Among developing countries, measures of financial deepening are positively associated with current account balances while indicators of openness to international trade are negatively correlated with current account balances.     

An asset-pricing view of external adjustment

Recent literature has argued that conventional measures of external sustainability - the trade balance and current account - are misleading because they omit capital gains on net foreign asset positions. We adjust the definition of the current account to include the capital gains and discuss how this may affect our thinking about external adjustment and sustainability. We do so in the context of a two-country macro-finance model of Pavlova and Rigobon (2008a) that allows exploration of the interconnections between equilibrium portfolios and external accounts' dynamics. We calibrate the model and find that it generates several testable implications, some of which have already been validated empirically. First, we establish dynamic properties of the capital-gains adjusted current account and show that they are fundamentally different from those of the conventional current account. Second, we find that capital gains have a stabilizing effect on the trade balance and the current account. Finally, we demonstrate that in response to a shock, the conventional and the capital-gains adjusted current accounts may move in opposite directions.     

External liabilities and crises

We examine the determinants of external crises, focusing on the role of foreign liabilities and their composition. Using a variety of statistical tools and comprehensive data spanning 1970–2011, we find that the ratio of net foreign liabilities to GDP is a significant crisis predictor. This is primarily due to the net position in debt instruments—the effect of net equity liabilities is weaker and net FDI liabilities seem, if anything, an offset factor. We also find that: i) breaking down net external debt into its gross asset and liability counterparts does not add significant explanatory power to crisis prediction; ii) the current account is a powerful predictor; iii) foreign exchange reserves reduce the likelihood of crisis more than other foreign asset holdings; and iv) a parsimonious probit containing those and a handful of other variables has good predictive performance in- and out-of-sample. The latter result stems largely from our focus on external crises sensu stricto.