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The role of savings and investment in balancing the current account: some empirical evidence from the United States

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  • Giovanni P. Olivei
Abstract
Current account deficits ultimately reflect a disparity between a country's national savings and investment. As such, the issue of how current account balance is achieved in practice can be viewed in terms of whether it is savings or investment that adjusts to an external deficit. In this article, the author examines empirically how savings and investment have responded to current account imbalances in the United States over the past 40 years. The main finding is that, on average, investment was largely responsible for rebalancing the current account in the long run. The finding that investment has borne the largest fraction of the external adjustment conforms with the view that, in the long run, the national savings rate constrains a country's rate of investment. Thus, in a situation with outstanding net external debt, low levels of national savings ultimately imply low levels of domestic investment. To the extent that one views net additions of capital as essential for a country's future growth prospects, low savings may signify a reduction in future standards of living.

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  • Giovanni P. Olivei, 2000. "The role of savings and investment in balancing the current account: some empirical evidence from the United States," New England Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Jul, pages 3-14.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbne:y:2000:i:jul:p:3-14
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. José Alves & Tomás Silva, 2021. "An Empirical Assessment of Monetary Policy Channels in Income and Wealth Disparities," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(3), pages 432-449, September.
    3. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:4b:p:455-478 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Owen F. Humpage, 2001. "International financial flows and the current business expansion," Policy Discussion Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Apr.
    5. Bardt, Hubertus & Grömling, Michael, 2003. "Sparen in Deutschland und den USA," IW-Trends – Vierteljahresschrift zur empirischen Wirtschaftsforschung, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) / German Economic Institute, vol. 30(3), pages 30-40.
    6. Dilem Yıldırım & Onur A. Koska, 2018. "Puzzling out the Feldstein-Horioka Paradox for Turkey by a Time-Varying Parameter Approach," ERC Working Papers 1808, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Apr 2018.
    7. Adian McFarlane & Young Cheol Jung & Anupam Das, 2020. "The dynamics among domestic saving, investment, and the current account balance in the USA: a long-run perspective," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1659-1680, April.
    8. Katarzyna Twarowska-Mol & Małgorzata Twarowska-Ratajczak, 2021. "Analysis of Factors Determining Global Payment Imbalances in 2000-2019," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4 - Part ), pages 455-478.
    9. Beckmann, Joscha & Belke, Ansgar & Gros, Daniel, 2022. "Savings–investment and the current account More measurement than identity," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    10. Apergis, Nicholas & Tsoumas, Chris, 2009. "A survey of the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle: What has been done and where we stand," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 64-76, June.
    11. Christopher Loewald & David Faulkner & Konstantin Makrelov, 2020. "Time consistency and economic growth a case study of south african macroeconomic policy," Working Papers 10421, South African Reserve Bank.
    12. Abdelaziz Rouabah, 2005. "Les déterminants du solde de la balance des transactions courantes au Luxembourg," BCL working papers 13, Central Bank of Luxembourg.

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