On budgetary policies, growth, and external deficits in an interdependent world

We investigate the effects of budgetary policies in a two-country model of overlapping generations and endogenous growth. In the presence of capital mobility, endogenous growth rates are equalized, but output levels do not converge. A worldwide rise in the public debt to GDP ratio or the share of government consumption reduces savings and growth. A relative rise in one country's debt to GDP ratio or its GDP share of government consumption results in a fall in external assets and its relative savings rate. In the short run, the fall in the savings rate is higher, and the country experiences higher current account deficits as a percentage of GDP.