Endogenous Growth Models in Open Economies: A Possibility of Permanent Current Account Deficits

The paper examines the impacts of heterogeneity in the degree of relative risk aversion on the balance on current account in the framework of endogenous growth, and concludes that, like heterogeneity in demographic changes, heterogeneity in the degree of relative risk aversion generates persisting current account imbalances. The imbalance continues permanently, but its ratio to outputs stabilizes. With evidence in many empirical studies that the degree of relative risk aversion in Japan is relatively higher than that in the U.S., the paper argues that the persisting bilateral trade deficit of the U.S. with Japan is partially generated by this mechanism.