TY  - JOUR
AU  - Edwards, Sebastian
TI  - Does the Current Account Matter?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8275
PY  - 2001
Y2  - May 2001
DO  - 10.3386/w8275
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8275
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8275.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sebastian Edwards
UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management
110 Westwood Plaza, Suite C508
Box 951481
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
Tel: 310/206-6797
Fax: 310/206-5825
E-Mail: sebastian.edwards@anderson.ucla.edu
M1  - published as Sebastian Edwards. "Does the Current Account Matter?," in Sebastian Edwards and Jeffrey A. Frankel, editors, "Preventing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets" University of Chicago Press (2002)

AB  - The purpose of this paper is to investigate in detail the behavior of the current account in emerging economies, and in particular its role   if any   in financial crises. Models of current account behavior are reviewed, and a dynamic model of current account sustainability is developed. The empirical analysis is based on a massive data set that covers over 120 countries during more than 25 years. Important controversies related to the current account   including the extent to which current account deficits help predict currency crises   are also analyzed. Throughout the paper I am interested in analyzing whether there is evidence supporting the idea that there are costs involved in running 'very large' deficits. Moreover, I investigate the nature of these potential costs, including whether they are particularly high in the presence of other type of imbalances.
ER  -