Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/153224 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
ECB Working Paper No. 790
Publisher: 
European Central Bank (ECB), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
This paper analyses the role of asset prices in comparison to other factors, in particular exchange rates, as a driver of the US trade balance. It employs a Bayesian structural VAR model that requires imposing only a minimum of economically meaningful sign restrictions. We find that equity market shocks and housing price shocks have been major determinants of the US current account in the past, accounting for up to 32% of the movements of the US trade balance at a horizon of 20 quarters. By contrast, shocks to the real exchange rate have been much less relevant, explaining less than 7% and exerting a more temporary effect on the US trade balance. Our findings suggest that sizeable exchange rate movements may not necessarily be a key element of an adjustment of today's large current account imbalances, and that in particular relative global asset price changes could be a more potent source of adjustment.
Subjects: 
Bayesian VAR
current account
Exchange Rates
global imbalances
sign restrictions
JEL: 
F32
F40
C30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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