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Twenty Five Years of Global Imbalances

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  • Obstfeld, Maurice

Abstract

As international capital markets expanded in breadth and depth after the middle 1990s, global current account imbalances also expanded markedly. Some have linked the origin of the subsequent Global Financial Crisis (GFC) to these global imbalances. This essay proposes answers to four questions about the recent history of global imbalances. Why did global imbalances expand after the mid-1990s? What circumstances and concomitant factors provide clues about the origins of the GFC? If one accepts that a mono-causal story about the GFC based on global imbalances is inaccurate, how should one view the potential threats from excessive global imbalances today? And finally, what policy implications follow?

Suggested Citation

  • Obstfeld, Maurice, 2018. "Twenty Five Years of Global Imbalances," CEPR Discussion Papers 13066, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13066
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Philip R. Lane & Gian Maria Milesi-Ferretti, 2018. "The External Wealth of Nations Revisited: International Financial Integration in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 66(1), pages 189-222, March.
    2. Bénétrix, Agustin S. & Lane, Philip R. & Shambaugh, Jay C., 2015. "International currency exposures, valuation effects and the global financial crisis," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(S1), pages 98-109.
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    4. Bernanke, B.S., 2011. "International capital flows and the returns to safe assets in the United States 2003-2007," Financial Stability Review, Banque de France, issue 15, pages 13-26, February.
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    7. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2009. "Global imbalances and the financial crisis: products of common causes," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Oct, pages 131-172.
    8. Lane, Philip & Milesi-Ferretti, Gian Maria, "undated". "External Wealth of Nations," Instructional Stata datasets for econometrics extwealth, Boston College Department of Economics.
    9. Claudio Raddatz & Diego Saravia & Jaume Ventura, 2015. "Global Liquidity, Spillovers to Emerging Markets and Policy Responses: An Overview," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Claudio Raddatz & Diego Saravia & Jaume Ventura (ed.),Global Liquidity, Spillovers to Emerging Markets and Policy Responses, edition 1, volume 20, chapter 1, pages 001-011, Central Bank of Chile.
    10. Viral V Acharya & Philipp Schnabl, 2010. "Do Global Banks Spread Global Imbalances? Asset-Backed Commercial Paper during the Financial Crisis of 2007–09," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 58(1), pages 37-73, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Koomen, Miriam & Wicht, Laurence, 2022. "Pension systems and the current account: An empirical exploration," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Dr. Miriam Koomen & Dr. Laurence Wicht, 2020. "Demographics, pension systems, and the current account: an empirical assessment using the IMF current account model," Working Papers 2020-23, Swiss National Bank.

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    Keywords

    Global imbalances; Global financial crisis (gfc); Current account; Imf external sector report;
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