What drives the German current account? Household savings, capital investments and public policies

Kilian Ruppert and Nikolai Stähler

Economic Modelling, 2022, vol. 108, issue C

Abstract: In this paper, we analyze structural changes and dynamic adjustments in a three-region open-economy New Keynesian model with search and matching labor market and a life-cycle structure to investigate the driving forces of the German current account over time. We show that population aging as well as several tax, labor market and pension reforms led to an increase in the household savings rate in Germany. Tight fiscal policy and a domestic corporate savings glut reduced investment opportunities notably after 2010. Together with productivity growth in the rest of the world, this significantly contributes to the German current account surplus since the early 2000s.

Keywords: Global imbalances; Population aging; Labor market reforms; Fiscal policy; DSGE modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E43 E62 H2 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:108:y:2022:i:c:s0264999322000153

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2022.105769

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