Macroeconomic Volatility and the Current Account: Evidence from a Panel of OECD Countries

Georgios Karras

International Economic Journal, 2016, vol. 30, issue 3, 322-338

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between macroeconomic volatility and the current account. Using quarterly data for a panel of OECD economies, time-varying relative volatility measures are constructed for GDP, net output, and government consumption. The empirical evidence suggests that current account balances are positively affected by all three volatility measures. Moreover, the current account balance is found to be related positively to output growth and negatively to the growth of government consumption. Evidence from saving and investment rates also suggests that the precautionary saving motive is part of (though perhaps not the entire) mechanism that relates output volatility and the current account. Broadly consistent with the predictions of the standard theoretical model, these estimates are sizable, statistically significant, and robust.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:intecj:v:30:y:2016:i:3:p:322-338

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DOI: 10.1080/10168737.2016.1211843

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