scholarly journals Why did the United States Evolve from the Largest International Creditor in 1980 to the Largest International Debtor in 1990?

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-411
Author(s):  
Robert Aliber
Keyword(s):  
Current Account ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Household Wealth ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Domestic Saving ◽  
Net Foreign Assets ◽  
International Investment Position ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Foreign Assets

AbstractRemarkable transformation of the U.S. international investment position occurred over the last 40 years. U.S. net foreign assets were larger than combined net foreign assets of all other creditors. By 1990, foreign-owned U.S. securities and real assets were larger than U.S. owned foreign securities and assets. This change occurred without the U.S. Treasury borrowing in foreign currency and few U.S. firms borrowing, reflecting a surge in foreign purchases of U.S. securities. Inferences from the currency composition of portfolio changes of those who acquired U.S. dollar securities suggest that foreign savers took the initiative on cross-border investment inflows. The U.S. could not have developed a larger capital account surplus after 1980 unless a similar increase in the U.S. current account deficit occurred. The primary factor that led to the U.S. current account deficit increase was the surge in U.S. stocks and other asset prices, resulting in a U.S. household wealth surge and consumption boom. The foreign saving inflow displaced domestic saving. In addition, an increase in the price of the U.S. dollar led to expenditure-switching from U.S. goods to increasingly less expensive foreign goods. When investor demand for U.S. dollar securities declined, the U.S. dollar price fell in 1992, 2002, and 2020 and the price of U.S. dollar securities declined. The paper discusses the source of the change in the U.S. international investment position, the flow of foreign saving to the U.S., cyclical variability in the foreign saving flow to the U.S., and the potential impact of an adjustable parity arrangement.

scholarly journals The Exchange Value Of The Dollar And The U.S. Trade Balance: A Partial Equilibrium Empirical Investigation

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahram Adrangi ◽  
Mary Allender ◽  
Kambiz Raffiee
Keyword(s):  
Current Account ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Current Account Balance ◽  
Exchange Value ◽  
The Many ◽  
International Investment Position ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Current Account

The recent depreciation of the dollar against major currencies of the world, notably the euro, has kindled discussion on the causes of this phenomenon and the possible outcomes should it continue. Many politicians blame the rising U.S. current account deficit and some economists have questioned the sustainability of the current account deficit. This paper examines the relationship between the U.S. current account balance, the net U.S. international investment position, and the exchange value of the dollar. Our results show that there is a relationship between the exchange value of the dollar and the current account balance. However, our results do not show that the current account balance is solely responsible for changes in the exchange value of the dollar. This is not surprising given the many influences currently under investigation as possible explanations for the recent behavior of the dollar.

scholarly journals Perspectives on the U.S. Current Account Deficit and Sustainability

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 131-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine L Mann
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Capital Inflows ◽  
Foreign Capital Inflows ◽  
International Investment Position ◽  
A Current ◽  
The U.S

This essay considers the underpinnings of the large U.S. current account deficit. It then tackles the question of whether the U.S. current account deficit is sustainable. A current account deficit is “sustainable” at a point in time if neither it, nor the associated foreign capital inflows, nor the negative net international investment position are large enough to induce significant changes in economic variables, such as consumption or investment or interest rates or exchange rates. Even if the current account deficit is sustainable by this definition today, its trajectory could still be creating future risks for the U.S. and global economy.

scholarly journals Implications of the U.S. Current Account Deficit

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 153-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H Howard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The United States ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Current Account

In 1988, the United States recorded a deficit of about $135 billion on the current account of its balance of payments with the rest of the world. This paper presents an analytical framework for thinking about the current account deficit, explores causes of the current account deficit, and discusses the United States as a debtor nation and the issue of sustainability.

scholarly journals Global Imbalances: Globalization, Demography, and Sustainability

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N Cooper
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Current Account ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
Trade Deficit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dominant Feature ◽  
The World ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Current Account

The current account deficit of the United States has been large in recent years, both in absolute size and relative to GDP. In 2006, it reached $811 billion, 6.1 percent of GDP. It has become a dominant feature of the world economy; if you sum up the current account deficits of all nations that are running deficits in the world economy, the U.S. deficit accounts for about 70 percent of the total. This paper looks beyond the national income accounting relationships to offer a more complex view of the U.S. imbalance. I argue that the generally rising U.S. trade deficit over the last 10–15 years is a natural outcome of two important forces in the world economy—globalization of financial markets and demographic change—and therefore that the U.S. current account deficit is likely to remain large for at least a decade. In a globalized market, the United States has a comparative advantage in producing marketable securities and in exchanging low-risk debt for higher-risk equity. It is not surprising that savers around the world want to put a growing portion of their savings into the U.S. economy. I argue that serious efforts to reduce the U.S. deficit, even collaborative efforts with other countries, may well precipitate a financial crisis and an economic downturn every bit as severe as the one that many fear could result from a disorderly market adjustment to the trade deficit.

scholarly journals CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN ARMENIA

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arus Tunian
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Open Economy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
Small Open Economy ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Customs Union ◽  
Negative Balance ◽  
International Investment Position

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of economic growth in Armenia. It is identified the nature of the balance of payments of the country, indicating a net debtor position, which leads to inherent deterioration of the international investment position. A small open economy of Armenia moves to a new phase of development, in the frame of the integration processes within the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. One of the main characteristics of the Armenian economy vulnerability remains a negative balance in foreign trade, which continues to grow, despite the export growth. Economic growth is provided, as before, mostly due to the sale of raw materials - non-ferrous metals and metal ores, both in the primary as well as in the previous preprocessing. Estimating the econometric VAR models revealed that the negative current account impacts on GDP growth negatively.

Global Savings–Investment Imbalances: What Role for East Asia?

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwar Nasution
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Current Account ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Path ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Global Shocks ◽  
The U.S

This paper examines the current path of global imbalances and the role of East Asia in addressing these issues. The roots of the problem are the exploding budget deficit and soaring current account deficit of the United States. The twin deficits are being financed by foreign savings including the placement of the massive foreign exchange reserves of East Asia in U.S. dollar–denominated debt, such as U.S. Treasury notes. Solving the imbalances will require corrections of internal and external imbalances by both the United States and its trading partners. How East Asia deploys its reserves could set off a tsunami of sales of dollar-based assets that could disrupt the U.S. and global economy. Sharp exchange rate adjustments (particularly a large fall in the U.S. dollar), and a protectionist backlash against the U.S. current account deficit, are in no one's interest as they could trigger global shocks.

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