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Habit Formation and the Present-Value Model of the Current Account: Yet Another Suspect

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  • Takashi Kano

    (University of Tokyo)

Abstract

A recent paper claims that habit formation in consumption plays an important role in current account fluctuations in selected developed countries, extending the present-value model of the current account (PVM) with consumption habits. In this paper, however, I show that the habit-forming PVM is observationally equivalent to the PVM augmented with persistent transitory consumption, which is induced by world real interest rate shocks. Based on a small open-economy real business cycle (SOE-RBC) model endowed with consumption habits as well as persistent world real interest rate shocks, this paper resolves the inherent identification problem of the habit-forming PVM by Bayesian methods to seek effects of habit formation on current account fluctuations in typical small open economies, Canada and the United Kingdom. Results reveal no clear evidence that habit formation plays a crucial role in current account fluctuations.

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  • Takashi Kano, 2008. "Habit Formation and the Present-Value Model of the Current Account: Yet Another Suspect," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-572, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    • Handle: RePEc:tky:fseres:2008cf572
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    Cited by:

    1. Havranek, Tomas & Rusnak, Marek & Sokolova, Anna, 2017. "Habit formation in consumption: A meta-analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 142-167.
    2. Takashi Kano & James M. Nason, 2014. "Business Cycle Implications of Internal Consumption Habit for New Keynesian Models," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(2-3), pages 519-544, March.
    3. Shibata, Akihisa & Shintani, Mototsugu & Tsuruga, Takayuki, 2019. "Current account dynamics under information rigidity and imperfect capital mobility," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 153-176.
    4. Kano, Takashi, 2008. "A structural VAR approach to the intertemporal model of the current account," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 757-779, September.
    5. Luo, Yulei & Nie, Jun & Young, Eric R., 2012. "Robustness, information–processing constraints, and the current account in small open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 104-120.
    6. Pablo A. Guerrón-Quintana & James M. Nason, 2013. "Bayesian estimation of DSGE models," Chapters, in: Nigar Hashimzade & Michael A. Thornton (ed.), Handbook of Research Methods and Applications in Empirical Macroeconomics, chapter 21, pages 486-512, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Takashi Kano, 2013. "Exchange Rates and Fundamentals: Closing a Two-country Model," CAMA Working Papers 2013-62, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Braeu, Rebecca, 2010. "Consumption tilting and the current account: Evidence from Canada," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 304-312, April.
    9. Takashi Kano, 2021. "Exchange Rates and Fundamentals: A General Equilibrium Exploration," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(1), pages 95-117, February.
    10. Mathias Hoffmann & Ulrich Woitek, 2011. "Emerging from the war: Gold Standard mentality, current accounts and the international business cycle 1885-1939," ECON - Working Papers 057, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    11. Yu-Hsi Chou & Chun-Yen Tsai, 2021. "Sources of current account fluctuations in Taiwan: 1989–2015," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 2125-2151, April.

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