Assessing the Twin Deficits Hypothesis in Selected OECD Countries: An Empirical Investigation

The improvement of budget deficits and current account deficits has renewed the debate over the twin deficits hypothesis. This paper examines the validity of the twin deficits hypothesis in nine members of the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the period 1990-2007. We use recently developed panel cointegration tests with structural breaks to assess the relationship between budget deficits and current account deficits. The empirical findings in this paper are as follows: (1) There is a long-run relationship between budget deficits and current account deficits for these countries; (2) The empirical result is consistent with the Keynesian proposition.