IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/imk/fmmpap/36-2018.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Revisiting debt-led and export-led growth models: a sectoral balances approach

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Behringer
  • Till van Treeck

Abstract

In this paper, we revisit the macroeconomic foundations and political economy of national growth models. We challenge the Kaleckian framework underpinning the emergent growth model literature in comparative political economy, which focuses primarily on the functional income distribution (wages versus profits), while ignoring personal income distribution (inequality across private households). Using the examples of the "export-led" and "debt-led" growth models of Germany and the United States, we show how institutional differences can help explain why different countries developed different patterns of income distribution and how income distribution and institutions interacted to generate financial imbalances in different sectors of the economy (i.e., the private household sector, the private corporate sector, and the government sector).

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Revisiting debt-led and export-led growth models: a sectoral balances approach," FMM Working Paper 36-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:imk:fmmpap:36-2018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/p_fmm_imk_wp_36_2018.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2017. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes," FMM Working Paper 09-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    2. Robert H. Frank, 2005. "Positional Externalities Cause Large and Preventable Welfare Losses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 137-141, May.
    3. Michael Kumhof & Romain Rancière & Pablo Winant, 2015. "Inequality, Leverage, and Crises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1217-1245, March.
    4. Eichhorst, Werner & Marx, Paul, 2010. "Whatever Works: Dualisation and the Service Economy in Bismarckian Welfare States," IZA Discussion Papers 5035, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Baccaro,Lucio & Howell,Chris, 2017. "Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107018723, September.
    6. Chiara Benassi & Lisa Dorigatti, 2015. "Straight to the Core — Explaining Union Responses to the Casualization of Work: The IG Metall Campaign for Agency Workers," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 533-555, September.
    7. Engelbert Stockhammer & Eckhard Hein & Lucas Grafl, 2011. "Globalization and the effects of changes in functional income distribution on aggregate demand in Germany," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 1-23.
    8. Emmanuel Saez & Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913: Evidence from Capitalized Income Tax Data," NBER Working Papers 20625, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2013. "Income distribution and current account: A sectoral perspective," IMK Working Paper 125-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    10. Behringer, Jan & van Treeck, Till, 2018. "Income distribution and the current account," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 238-254.
    11. Ruscher Eric & Wolff Guntram B., 2013. "Corporate Balance Sheet Adjustment: Stylized Facts, Causes and Consequences," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 64(2), pages 117-138, August.
    12. Baccaro,Lucio & Howell,Chris, 2017. "Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107603691, September.
    13. Engelbert Stockhammer & Rafael Wildauer, 2016. "Debt-driven growth? Wealth, distribution and demand in OECD countries," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(6), pages 1609-1634.
    14. Hamzeh Arabzadeh, 2016. "The political economy of twin deficits and wage setting centralization," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2016017, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    15. Pahnke, André & Schröder, Christian & Leonhardt, Fabian & Wiedemann, Arnd, 2015. "Finanzierungsstrukturen und -strategien kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen: Eine Bestandsaufnahme," IfM-Materialien 242, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    16. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes: the role of income distribution," IMK Working Paper 194-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    17. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2015. "Rising inequality as a cause of the present crisis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 39(3), pages 935-958.
    18. Hall, Peter A. & Gingerich, Daniel W., 2009. "Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Political Economy: An Empirical Analysis," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 449-482, July.
    19. Marc Lavoie & Stockhammer Engelbert, 2013. "Wage-Led Growth: An Equitable Strategy for Economic Recovery," Post-Print hal-01343664, HAL.
    20. Jan Behringer & Thomas Theobald & Till van Treeck, 2014. "Income and Wealth Distributionin Germany: A Macro-Economic Perspective," IMK Report 99e-2014, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    21. Mr. Luca A Ricci & Mr. Jonathan David Ostry & Mr. Jaewoo Lee & Mr. Alessandro Prati & Mr. Gian M Milesi-Ferretti, 2008. "Exchange Rate Assessments: CGER Methodologies," IMF Occasional Papers 2008/002, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Bhaduri, Amit & Marglin, Stephen, 1990. "Unemployment and the Real Wage: The Economic Basis for Contesting Political Ideologies," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(4), pages 375-393, December.
    23. Mr. Steven T Phillips & Mr. Luis Catão & Mr. Luca A Ricci & Mr. Rudolfs Bems & Ms. Mitali Das & Mr. Julian Di Giovanni & Ms. Filiz D Unsal & Marola Castillo & Jungjin Lee & Jair Rodriguez & Mr. Mauric, 2013. "The External Balance Assessment (EBA) Methodology," IMF Working Papers 2013/272, International Monetary Fund.
    24. Christophe André & Stéphanie Guichard & Mike Kennedy & Dave Turner, 2007. "Corporate Net Lending: A Review of Recent Trends," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 583, OECD Publishing.
    25. Mr. Romain Ranciere & Mr. Nathaniel A. Throckmorton & Mr. Michael Kumhof & Ms. Claire Lebarz & Mr. Alexander W. Richter, 2012. "Income Inequality and Current Account Imbalances," IMF Working Papers 2012/008, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jakob Kapeller & Claudius Graebner & Philipp Heimberger, 2019. "Economic Polarisation in Europe: Causes and Policy Options," ICAE Working Papers 99, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2018. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes: the role of income distribution," IMK Working Paper 194-2018, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    2. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2017. "Varieties of capitalism and growth regimes," FMM Working Paper 09-2017, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    3. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck & Achim Truger, 2020. "How to reduce Germany's current account surplus?," Working Papers 8, Forum New Economy.
    4. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2013. "Income distribution and current account: A sectoral perspective," IMK Working Paper 125-2013, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    5. Patrick Grüning & Thomas Theobald & Till van Treeck, 2015. "Income inequality and Germany’s current account surplus," IMK Working Paper 147-2015, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    6. Baccaro, Lucio & Pontusson, Jonas, 2018. "Comparative political economy and varieties of macroeconomics," MPIfG Discussion Paper 18/10, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    7. Till van Treeck & Judith Niehues & Galina Kolev & Piotr Pysz & Peter Hampe & Andreas Peichl & Marc Stöckli & Georg Cremer, 2018. "Wie gerecht ist die Welt? – Soziale Ungleichheit und Wirtschaftswachstum," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 71(15), pages 03-25, August.
    8. Franz J. Prante, 2018. "Macroeconomic Effects of Personal and Functional Income Inequality: Theory and Empirical Evidence for the US and Germany," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 65(3), pages 289-318.
    9. Thomas Goda & Özlem Onaran & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2017. "Income Inequality and Wealth Concentration in the Recent Crisis," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(1), pages 3-27, January.
    10. Eckhard Hein & Nina Dodig, 2014. "Financialisation, distribution, growth and crises – long-run tendencies," Working papers wpaper23, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    11. Eckhard Hein, 2017. "Post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid 1990s: main developments," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 131-172, September.
    12. Jan Behringer & Till van Treeck, 2023. "The corporate sector and the current account," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(3), pages 826-857.
    13. Behringer, Jan & van Treeck, Till, 2018. "Income distribution and the current account," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 238-254.
    14. Océane Blomme & Jérôme Héricourt, 2023. "Inequality, Current Account Imbalances and Middle Incomes," Working Papers 2023-11, CEPII research center.
    15. Engelbert Stockhammer & Rafael Wildauer, 2016. "Debt-driven growth? Wealth, distribution and demand in OECD countries," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(6), pages 1609-1634.
    16. Robert A. Blecker, 2016. "Wage-led versus profit-led demand regimes: the long and the short of it," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 4(4), pages 373-390, October.
    17. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o6r34k5bcm3iopv is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Botta, Alberto & Caverzasi, Eugenio & Russo, Alberto & Gallegati, Mauro & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2021. "Inequality and finance in a rent economy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 998-1029.
    19. Barry Z. Cynamon & Steven M. Fazzari, 2016. "Inequality, the Great Recession and slow recovery," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(2), pages 373-399.
    20. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/vbu6kd1s68o6r34k5bcm3iopv is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Alberto Cardaci & Francesco Saraceno, 2019. "Inequality and imbalances: a monetary union agent-based model," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 853-890, July.
    22. Eckhard Hein & Walter Paternesi Meloni & Pasquale Tridico, 2021. "Welfare models and demand-led growth regimes before and after the financial and economic crisis," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 1196-1223, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Growth models; financial balances; functional income distribution; personal income distribution; institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining
    • P5 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:imk:fmmpap:36-2018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sabine Nemitz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fmbocde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.