Theorizing About Global Imbalances: An Inequality Perspective

Abstract

Current account imbalances, now manifested as intensified trade wars between countries, have recently received much attention from researchers. This article reviewed this global issue from a new perspective complementary to the existing research. The study proposed a simple economic model and discovered that the current account balance is inversely proportional to the ratio of income to consumption inequality. This ratio combines all consumption smoothing schemes that depend on political interventions that can alleviate increases in income inequality. In the long run, however, current accounts could be consequently affected by a short-sighted policy.(original abstract)