TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chinn,Menzie D.
AU  - Prasad,Eswar S.
TI  - Medium-Term Determinants of Current Accounts in Industrial and Developing Countries: An Empirical Exploration
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 7581
PY  - 2000
Y2  - March 2000
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7581
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w7581.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Menzie D. Chinn
Dept. of Economics
University of Wisconsin
1180 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
Tel: 608/262-7397
Fax: 608/262-2033
E-Mail: mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu

Eswar S. Prasad
Dyson School of Applied Economics and
Management
Cornell University
440 Warren Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: 607/255-5687
Fax: 607/255-9984
E-Mail: eswar.prasad@cornell.edu
AB  - This paper provides an empirical investigation of the medium-term determinants of current accounts for a large sample of industrial and developing countries. The analysis is based on a structural approach that highlights the roles of the fundamental macroeconomic determinants of saving and investment. Cross-section and panel regression techniques are used to characterize the properties of current account variation across countries and over time. We find that current account balances are positively correlated with government budget balances and initial stocks of net foreign assets. Among developing countries, measures of financial deepening are positively associated with current account balances while indicators of openness to international trade are negatively correlated with current account balances.
ER  -