Week 8 A small open economy model Flashcards
What do we mean by small?
Effectively our economy cannot impact the rest of the world- view us as price takers not price makers.
What are our 3 starting assumptions?
- Endowment economy (i.e income is exogenous)
- Two periods
- SOE (so r = r∗)
What does r = r∗?
In a small open economy- the domestic real interest rate is the same as the world real interest rate.
Define a country’s current account balance.
The change in the value of its net claims on the ROW (the change in net foreign assets, NFA)
Is the CA in surplus if positive or negative? What does this mean?
Positive, and it means that the country is a net lender.
If an economy borrows from abroad, when does it have to pay it back?
In the next period.
What does the CA represent?
Trade over time.
How many periods does NX focus on?
A single period
If we assume optimality, what must be true of the current account surplus in period 1?
CA surplus period 1 = CA deficit period 2
What is a government budget surplus?
Taxes- Government spending
What is total domestic saving equal to?
Private saving + Government saving
What preferences does a representative curve have its indifference curve over?
(C + G and C’ + G’) where private consumption and government consumption are perfect substitutes.
- What is the effect on the current account surplus following an increase in current income?
- Why?
- The current account surplus rises with an increase in current income.
- Because consumption smoothing means that as income rises more than expenditure, the current account surplus rises
What is the CA equal to?
CA= Y-C-G
- What is the effect on the current account surplus following an increase in future income?
- Why?
- The current account surplus falls following an increase in future income
- As an increase in Y’ will increase consumption now, thus as CA = Y-C-G, but Y stays the same whilst C and G fall, the CA surplus falls.
- What is the effect on the current account surplus following a change in taxes?
- Why?
There is no impact as Ricardian equivalence holds, private and government savings just change by equal and opposite amounts.
What will happen to the 2 period small-open economy diagram following an increase in interest rates?
An increase in world interest rate will make the BC steeper and it will pivot around the endowment point
- When CA<0, what is the effect of an increase in the real interest rate?
- Why?
- When CA<0, an increase in the real interest rate increase CA (reduces the deficit)
- As increase in the real interest rate reduces consumption and increases savings
- When CA>0, what is the effect of an increase in the real interest rate?
- Why?
- When CA<0, an increase in the real interest rate has an ambiguous effect on the CA
- As for net lenders, an increase in the real interest rate could increase or decrease savings, so as C+G could rise or fall, so could the CA.
What do credit market imperfections allow?
The Home economy the possibility of defaulting on its debts
If a nations debt to the world in the current period is B, what is its CA?
CA= B- B’/1+r’
What is limited commitment?
When a country can default on its debt in either the future or current period.